LIBRARY  OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 

AT  URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 


Gift  of 
Reid  T.  Milner 

.INOIS  HISTORICAL  SURVEY 


PERSONAL  RECOLLECTIONS 


OF 


PARDEE    BUTLER 


WITH  REMINISCENCES,  BY 
HIS  DAUGHTER, 


MRS.  ROSETTA   B.  HASTINGS 


AND    ADDITIONAL,    CHAPTKRS 


BY 


ELD.  JOHN  BOGGS  AND  ELD.  J.  B.  MCCLEERY. 


CINCINNATI 

STANDARD  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 
1889 


Copyright,  1889,  by 
STANDARD  PUBLISHING  Co. 


PREFACE. 


I  have  not  attempted  to  write  a  complete  biography 
of  my  father,  but  merely  to  supplement  his  ' '  Rec- 
ollections "  with  a  few  of  my  own  reminiscences.  He 
was  a  man  who  said  little  in  his  family  about  his  early 
years,  or  about  any  of  the  occurrences  of  his  eventful 
life.  Nor  did  he  ever  keep  any  journal,  or  any  account 
of  his  meetings,  or  of  the  number  that  he  baptized. 
He  seldom  reported  his  meetings  to  the  newspapers. 
I  think  it  was  only  during  the  few  years  that  he  was 
employed  by  missionary  societies,  that  he  ever  made 
reports  of  what  he  accomplished.  He  had  even  de- 
stroyed the  most  of  his  old  letters.  And  so,  for  nearly 
all  information  outside  of  my  own  recollections,  I  have 
been  indebted  to  the  kindness  of  relatives  and  friends. 

The  later  chapters  have  been  written  by  men  who 
knew  my  father  intimately,  and  men  whose  reputations 
are  such  as  to  give  weight  to  their  testimony. 

To  all  of  these  friends  I  now  offer  my  thanks  for 
their  kind  assistance. 

And  to  the  public  I  offer  this  book,  not  for  its 
literary  merit,  but  as  the  tribute  of  a  daughter  to  a 
loved  father,  whose  earnest  devotion  to  duty  was  worthy 
of  imitation. 

MRS.  ROSETTA  B.  HASTINGS. 
Farmington,  Kansas,  April  23,  1889. 


INTRODUCTION. 


In  this  country  inherited  fortunes,  or  ancestral 
honors,  have  little  effect  on  a  man's  reputation  ;  but 
inherited  disposition  and  early  sourroundings  have 
much  effect  on  his  character. 

My  father's  ancestors  were  from  New  England. 
His  father,  Phineas  Butler,  came  from  Saybrook,  Con- 
necticut, where  the  Congregational  Churches  framed 
the  Saybrook  platform.  His  mother's  people,  the 
Pardees,  came  from  Norfork,  Connecticut.  The  Pardees 
were  said  to  have  been  descendants  of  the  French 
Huguenots.  Ebenezer  Pardee  emigrated  to  Marcellus, 
now  known  as  Skaneateles,  Onondaga  Co.,  New 
York.  There  he  died  in  1811,  leaving  his  wife  Ann 
Pardee,  (known  for  many  years  as  grandmother  Pardee) 
a  widow,  with  nine  sons  and  two  daughters.  The 
eldest  daughter,  Sarah  Pardee,  was  there  married  in 
1813,  to  Phineas  Butler;  and  there  my  father,  who 
was  the  second  of  seven  children,  was  born,  March 
9,  1816. 

In  the  autumn  of  1818,  Phineas  Butler,  of  whom  I 
shall  hereafter  speak  as  grandfather  Butler,  went  to 
Wadsworth,  Medina  Co.,  Ohio.  There  a  settlement 
had  been  begun  three  years  before  in  the  heavy  timber, 
and  there  were  only  a  few  small  clearings  here  and 
there  in  the  woods. 


D  INTRODUCTION. 

My  grandmother  came  on  with  her  brother  the 
following  spring.  She  had  three  small  children,  but 
they  made  the  journey  in  a  sled,  in  bad  weather,  cut- 
ting their  own  roads,  and  camping  in  the  woods  at 
night.  Grandmother  Pardee  came  on  later.  She  was 
a  woman  of  great  energy,  and  brought  up  her  sons  so 
well  that  they  all  became  leading  men  in  the  communi- 
ties in  which  they  lived.  Grandmother  Butler  was  also 
a  capable,  fearless  woman,  and  so  calm  and  firm  that  it 
was  said  no  vexation  was  ever  known  to  ruffle  her 
temper. 

Their  cabins  were  built  of  logs,  with  hewed  punch- 
eon floors  and  doors ;  and  on  the  roof,  in  the  place  of 
nailed  shingles,  were  split  shakes,  fastened  on  with 
poles  and  wooden  pins.  But  grandfather  had  brought 
a  few  nails  (made  by  a  blacksmith)  from  New  York, 
and  used  them  in  his  house.  When  a  neighbor  died 
they  hewed  out  puncheons  to  make  a  coffin,  and  find- 
ing only  eighteen  nails  in  the  neighborhood,  grand- 
father, by  torchlight,  pulled  fourteen  more  out  of  his 
house  to  finish  the  coffin. 

Their  lives  were  full  of  hardship  and  -privation. 
Grandfather  was  a  famous  hunter,  and  his  well  aimed 
rifle  sometimes  furnished  game  that  kept  the  neighbor- 
hood from  starvation.  He  was  dependent  on  bartering 
furs  at  some  distant  trading  post,  for  his  supplies  of 
salt,  needles,  ammunition  and  other  necessary  articles 
that  could  not  be  made  at  home. 


INTRODUCTION.  / 

Often,  after  a  hard  day's  work,  he  hunted  half  of 
the  night  to  obtain  coonskins  and  other  furs.  Father 
said  that  one  night  grandfather  and  Orin  Loomis  were 
out  hunting  coons  with  the  dogs,  having  taken 
their  axes  to  chop  down  coon  trees,  but  no  guns, 
when  they  found  a  bear,  on  a  small  island,  in  the 
middle  of  a  swamp.  But  I  find  his  bear  story  so  well 
told  in  the  "Wadsworth  Memorial"  that  I  will  quote 
from  that : 

"  In  the  fall  of  1823,  as  Butler  and  Loomis  were 
returning  after  midnight  from  one  of  their  hunts,  and 
had  arrived  within  a  mile  or  two  of  home  it  was  noticed 
that  the  dogs  were  missing.  Presently  a  noise  was 
heard,  far  back  in  the  rear. 

' '  '  Hark  !  What  was  that  ?'  said  Loomis.  They  list- 
ened awhile,  and  agreed  it  was  dogs,  sure. 

"  'Orr,  let's  go  back,'  said  Butler. 

"  '  No,  it  is  too  late,'  answered  Loomis. 

"  '  But, '  said  Butler,  '  I  '11  warrant  the  dogs  are  after 
a  bear;  don't  you  hear  old  Beaver?  It  sounds  tome 
like  the  bark  of  old  Beaver  when  he  is  after  a  bear. ' 

'  *  Butler  was  bound  to  go  back,  and  so  they  started. 
The  scene  of  the  disturbance  was  finally  reached,  after 
traveling  two  or  three  miles.  The  dogs  had  found  a 
bear ;  but  it  was  in  the  middle  of  Long  Swamp,  and 
the  alders  were  so  thick  that  there  was  scarcely  room 
for  man,  dog  or  bear  to  get  through.  This  did  not 
deter  Phin.  Butler,  however.  They  got  near  enough 


8  INTRODUCTION. 

to  find  that  the  bear  was  stationed  on  a  spot  a  little 
drier  than  the  main  swamp,  surrounded  by  alder 
bushes,  and  that  she  was  determined  not  to  leave  it. 
The  dogs  would  bay  up  close,  when  the  old  bear  would 
run  out  after  them.  They  would  retreat,  and  then  she 
would  run  back  to  her  nest  again. 

"We  can 't  kill  her  to-night, "  said  Loomis,  'we 
will  have  to  go  home  and  come  down  again  in  the 
morning. ' 

' '  No, '  replied  Butler,  '  I  am  afraid  she  will  get 
away.  We  can  kill  her  to-night,  I  guess.  You  can 
go  and  hiss  on  the  dogs  on  one  side,  and  I  will  come 
up  on  the  other ;  and  when  she  runs  out  after  them, 
I  '11  cut  her  back-bone  off  with  the  ax. ' 

* '  They  concluded  to  try  this  plan,  and  came  very 
near  succeeding.  As  the  old  bear  rushed  past,  Butler 
put  the  whole  bit  of  the  ax  into  her  back,  but  failed 
to  cut  the  back-bone  by  an  inch  or  two.  Enraged 
and  desperate,  she  sprang  upon  the  dogs,  who,  em- 
boldened by  the  presence  of  their  masters,  came  too 
close.  With  one  of  her  enormous  paws  she  came 
down  on  old  Beaver,  making  a  large  wound  in  his  side, 
which  nearly  killed  him.  He  was  hardly  able  to  crawl 
out  of  the  swamp. 

"The  fight  was  then  abandoned  until  morning,  as 
without  Beaver  to  lead  the  dogs  it  was  useless  to 
proceed.  It  was  difficult  to  get  the  old  dog  home, 
but  he  finally  got  well.  Early  in  the  morning  the 


INTRODUCTION.  p 

hunters  were  on  the  ground.  This  time  they  had  their 
guns  with  them,  but  found  the  old  bear  was  gone.  On 
examining  her  nest  of  the  night  before,  her  unusual 
ferocity  was  explained.  She  had  a  litter  of  cubs, 
which,  however,  she  had  succeeded  in  removing,  and 
must  have  carried  them  off  in  her  mouth.  In  a  short 
time  the  dogs  had  tracked  her  out.  She  was  found 
a  half  mile  lower  down  the  swamp,  where  she  had 
a  new  nest.  Butler's  rifle  soon  dispatched  her;  but 
her  cubs,  four  in  number,  and  not  more  than  three  or 
four  weeks  old,  were  taken  alive,  and  kept  for  pets." 

Father  said  that  he  could  remember  when  they 
brought  the  bears  home,  growling,  snarling — the  cross- 
est  little  things  he  ever  saw. 

Strange  as  it  may  seem,  my  father  did  not  inherit 
grandfather's  love  for  hunting.  I  never  saw  him  shoot 
a  gun,  and  he  has  never  owned  one  within  my 
recollection, 

Orin  Loomis  was  often  heard  to  say  that  Phin. 
Butler  was  the  most  courageous  man  he  ever  knew. 
He  was  quick-tempered,  but  warm-hearted,  and  full  of 
fun,  and  as  honest  and  sincere  as  he  was  bold  and 
fearless.  One  time  he  was  traveling,  and  stopped  at 
a  tavern.  The  strangers  present  were  discussing  the 
statement  that  every  man  has  his  price,  and  each  man 
was  telling  what  was  the  least  price  for  which  he 
would  tell  a  lie.  Finally  one  man  said  that  he  would 
tell  a  lie  for  five  dollars.  Grandfather's  impetuous 


IO  INTRODUCTION. 

nature  could  stand  it  no  longer,  and  he  burst  out 
scornfully:  "Tell  a  lie!  Tell  a  lie  for  five  dollars! 
Sell  your  manhood  !  Sell  your  soul  for  five  dollars ! 
You  must  rate  yourself  very  cheap  !"  And  then,  they 
said,  he  fairly  preached  them  a  sermon  on  the  nobility 
of  perfect  truthfulness,  and  the  littleness  and  meanness 
of  lying  and  deceitfulness. 

My  grandmother  was  also  very  conscientious,  which 
was  illustrated  by  the  fact  that  on  her  death-bed,  after 
giving  some  good  advice  to  her  daughters,  she  charged 
them  to  carry  home  a  cup  of  coffee  that  she  had  bor- 
rowed. 

An  old  Wadsworth  friend,  writing  to  us  since 
father's  death,  says  of  him :  ' '  From  a  boy  Pardee 
was  remarkable  for  his  uprightness,  and  bold  and  strict 
honesty,  and  it  was  a  maxim  among  the  boys  to  say, 
'As  honest  as  Pard.  Butler.'  He  and  his  father  before 
him  were  specimens  of  puritanical  honesty  and  courage, 
and  had  they  lived  in  the  days  of  Cromwell  and  in  Eng- 
land, would  doubtless  have  been  in  Cromwell's  army." 

Scarcely  was  the  settlement  begun  when  a  school 
was  taught  in  one  room  of  a  log  dwelling-house.  When 
but  three  years  old,  father  was  a  pupil  in  the  first 
school  that  was  taught  in  the  new  school-house,  by 
Miss  Lodema  Sackett,  and  continued  to  attend  school 
a  part  of  every  year.  Books  were  scarce,  but  he  was 
fond  of  reading,  and  read,  over  and  over,  all  that  he 
could  obtain. 


INTRODUCTION.  1 1 

The  Western  Reserve  was  settled  mainly  by  New 
Englanders,  who  were  intelligent  and  God-fearing  men  ; 
and  religious  meetings  were  held  from  the  first ;  printed 
sermons  being  read  aloud  when  there  was  no  preacher. 
A  Sunday-school  was  organized  in  Wadsworth  in  1820. 

The  most  influential  man  in  the  neighborhood  was 
Judge  Brown,  an  uncle  of  "  John  Brown  of  Ossawa- 
tomie."  He  was  noted  for  the  purity  of  his  life,  the 
dignity  of  his  demeanor,  and  the  firmness  with  which 
he  defended  his  views.  He  was  a  bitter  opponent  of 
slavery,  and,  what  was  strange  in  those  days,  a  strong 
temperance  man.  Before  leaving  Connecticut  he  had 
heard  Lyman  Beecher  deliver  his  famous  temper- 
ance sermons,  and  he  came  to  Wadsworth  with  his 
soul  ablaze  with  temperance  zeal.  The  community  was 
strongly  influenced  by  him,  and  father  said  that  he  was 
much  indebted  to  Judge  Brown  for  his  temperance  and 
anti-slavery  principles. 

Even  in  those  early  days  Wadsworth  contained  a 
public  library,  a  lyceum  where  the  young  men  discussed 
the  questions  of  the  day,  and  an  academy.  Father 
took  part  in  the  lyceum  debates,  though  he  was  said 
to  be  slow  of  speech ;  and  attended  the  Wadsworth 
Academy  from  its  beginning,  in  1830.  One  of  its  most 
successful  teachers  was  a  shrewd  Scotchman  named 
John  McGregor.  Father  and  several  young  men  from 
a  distance,  who  boarded  at  grandfather's  and  attended 
this  school,  spent  their  evenings  studying  their  lessons, 


12  INTRODUCTION. 

or  reading  and  discussing  some  good  book.  Dick's 
scientific  works  were  among  the  books  thus  read. 

There  were  many  Lutherans,  Dutch  Reformers, 
and  Mennonites  near  Wadsworth,  and  there  was  a 
perfect  ferment  of  religious  discussion. 

During  father's  boyhood,  Alexander  Campbell  and 
Walter  Scott  had  been  preaching  the  union  of  Christ- 
ians on  the  Bible  alone,  and  there  was  great  enthus- 
iasm. 

Eld.  Newcomb,  an  honored  Baptist  preacher,  to- 
gether with  my  grandfather,  and  Samuel  Green — the 
father  of  Almon  B.  Green  and  Philander  Green — had 
been  reading  the  writings  of  A.  Campbell  for  several 
years.  Almon  B.  Green  had  been  made  skeptical  by 
the  unintelligible  orthodox  preaching.  But  one  day, 
after  reading  the  first  four  books  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, he  exclaimed,  ' '  No  uninspired  man  ever  wrote 
that  book."  He  read  on  until  he  came  to  Acts  ii.  38, 
which  he  took  to  Eld.  Newcomb,  asking  him  its  mean- 
ing. "  It  means  what  it  says,"  was  his  reply.  In  a 
few  days  Almon  was  baptized  by  Eld.  Newcomb, 
simply  on  his  confession  of  faith  in  Christ,  without 
telling  any  experience,  as  usually  required  by  the 
Baptists.  Soon  afterwards  four  families,  the  New- 
combs,  Greens,  Butlers  and  Bonnels,  all  Baptists, 
united  to  form  a  church  on  the  apostolic  pattern.  Then 
William  Hayden  came  with  his  fiery  eloquence  and 
wondrous  songs  ;  the  people  were  stirred  up,  opposition 


INTRODUCTION.  13 

aroused,   the  various  creeds  were   discussed  with  re- 
newed energy,  and  the  church  grew  and  multiplied. 

But  father  and  his  uncle  Aaron,  who  was  eight 
years  older  than  himself,  had  been  made  skeptical  by 
orthodox  mysticism  and  the  disputes  of  so  many  wrang- 
ling churches. 

In  September,  1833,  A.  Campbell  came  to  Wads- 
worth  to  attend  a  great  yearly  meeting  held  in  William 
Kyle's  barn.  The  following  account  of  an  incident 
that  occurred  at  that  time,  I  quote  from  ' '  History  of 
the  Disciples  on  the  Western  Reserve." 

"An  incident  occurred  at  this  time  which  displays 
Mr  Campbeirs  character  for  discernment  and  candor. 
Aaron  Pardee,  a  gentleman  residing  in  the  vicinity,  an 
unbeliever  in  the  gospel,  attracted  by  Campbell's  abili- 
ties as  a  reasoner,  and  won  by  his  fairness  in  argument, 
resolved  to  obtain  an  interview  and  propose  freely  his 
difficulties.  Mr.  Campbell  received  him  with  such 
frankness  that  he  opened  his  case  at  once,  saying,  i  I 
discover,  Mr.  Campbell,  you  are  well  prepared  in  the 
argument  and  defenses  of  the  Christian  religion.  I 
confess  to  you  frankly  there  are  some  difficulties  in  my 
mind  which  prevent  my  believing  the  Bible,  particularly 
the  Old  Testament/ 

' '  Mr.  Campbell  replied,  '  I  acknowledge  freely,  Mr. 
Pardee,  there  are  difficulties  in  the  Bible — difficulties 
not  easy  to  explain,  and  some,  perhaps,  which  in  our 
present  state  of  information  can  not  be  cleared  up. 


14  INTRODUCTION. 

But,  my  dear  sir,  when  I  consider  the  overwhelming 
testimony  in  its  favor,  so  ample,  complete  and  satis- 
factory, I  can  not  resist  the  conviction  of  its  divine 
origin.  The  field  of  prophetic  inspiration  is  so  varied 
and  full,  and  the  internal  evidence  so  conclusive,  that, 
with  all  the  difficulties,  the  preponderance  of  evidence 
is  overwhelming  in  its  favor.'  This  reply,  so  fair  and 
manly,  and  so  different  from  the  pulpit  denunciations 
of  'skeptics/  '  infidels,'  etc.,  to  which  he  had  been 
accustomed,  quite  disarmed  him,  and  led  him  to  hear 
the  truth  and  its  evidence  in  a  much  more  rational 
state  of  mind.  Within  a  year  he  became  fully  satisfied 
of  the  truthfulness  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  appre- 
hending clearly  their  testimony  to  the  claims  of  Jesus 
of  Nazareth  as  the  anointed  Son  of  God,  he  was  pre- 
pared to  yield  to  him  the  obedience  of  his  life." 

My  father  was  present  with  his  uncle  Aaron  at  that 
interview  with  Mr.  Campbell,  and  he  too  was  led  by  it 
to  listen  favorably  to  Mr.  Campbell's  clear  and  powerful 
presentation  of  divine  truth.  He  followed  Mr.  Camp- 
bell to  other  meetings,  and  listened,  read,  and  investi- 
gated until  he,  too,  became  convinced  of  the  truth  of 
the  Bible. 

His  uncle  Aaron,  who  is  still  living,  said  in  a  recent 
letter:  "  I  remember  going  to  meeting  with  Pardee 
sometime  about  a  year  before  I  was  immersed,  when 
he  put  some  questions  to  me  on  the  subject  of  religion, 
which  were  very  difficult  to  answer." 


INTRODUCTION.  1 5 

In  June,  1835,  at  a  meeting  held  in  Mr.  Clark's  new 
barn,  my  father  and  his  uncle,  Aaron  Pardee,  con- 
fessed their  Saviour,  and  were  baptized  by  Elder  New- 
comb,  in  a  stream  on  Elder  Newcomb's  farm.  A 
brother  and  sister  of  A.  B.  Green,  and  a  sister  of  Hol- 
land Brown,  were  baptized  at  the  same  time.  Holland 
Brown  had  been  baptized  the  previous  week.  He 
walked  down  to  the  water  with  father,  and  remembers 
hearing  him  exclaim,  on  the  way  to  the  water, 
"Lord,  I  believe!  Help  thou  mine  unbelief. "  He 
also  remembers  hearing  Elder  Newcomb  remark, 
"Now  we  can  take  everything;  we  have  Bro.  Butler 
and  Bro.  Pardee  to  fight  the  infidels,  and  the  Browns 
to  fight  the  Universalists. "  Holland  Brown's  brother, 
Leonard,  and  his  wife — he  had  married  my  father's 
eldest  sister,  Ann  Butler— had  been  baptized  not  far 
from  that  time. 

Holland  Brown  relates  the  following  incident,  which 
occurred  some  time  afterward : 

' '  Bro.  Butler  was  away  from  home,  and  driving  a 
horse,  which,  though  of  fine  appearance,  was  badly 
wind-broken.  At  times  the  horse  appeared  perfectly 
sound,  and  at  one  of  those  times  Bro.  Butler  was 
offered  a  handsome  sum  for  him. 

"No,'  said  Bro.  Butler,  'I  can  not  take  that  sum 
for  the  horse,  he  is  badly  wind-broken. ' 

"Why  didn't  you  take  it?  the  man  was  a  jockey, 
anyhow ;'  asked  some  one  in  my  hearing. 


1 6  INTRODUCTION. 

"  *  Because, '  was  the  ringing  answer,  '  I  think  less  of 
the  price  of  a  horse  than  of  my  own  soul. ' ' 

About  that  time  father  began  teaching  school  in 
neighboring  districts,  which  he  followed  for  several 
years.  But  all  of  his  spare  time  was  spent  in  study- 
ing the  Bible,  church  history,  the  writings  of  A. 
Campbell,  and  other  religious  books.  It  was  at  that 
time  that  he  began  committing  the  New  Testament  to 
memory. 

Grandfather  Butler  and  Samuel  Green  were  the 
leaders  of  the  new  organization,  as  they  had  been  of 
the  Baptist  Church,  in  Eld.  Newcomb's  absence — for 
he  was  away  evangelizing  much  of  the  time.  They 
called  on  the  young  people  to  take  part  in  their  social 
meetings  on  the  Lord's  day,  at  first  only  asking  them 
to  read  a  passage  of  Scripture,  afterward  to  talk  and 
pray,  and,  as  they  gained  confidence  in  themselves, 
they  were  asked  to  lead  the  meetings.  Thus  there 
grew,  in  that  church,  one  after  the  other,  within  a  few 
years,  eight  preachers  :  A.  B.  Green,  Wm.  Moody, 
Holland  Brown,  Leonard  Brown,  Philander  Green, 
B.  F.  Perky,  Pardee  Butler  and  L.  L.  Carpenter. 

A.  B.  Green  had  been  preaching  a  year  or  more 
before  father  was  baptized,  but  I  do  not  know  which 
of  the  others  began  first,  nor  do  I  know  the  exact  time 
when  father  began  to  preach,  but  it  was  about  1837  or 
1838.  He  was  not  ordained  at  Wadsworth,  for  the  church 
at  that  time  doubted  whether  there  was  any  Scriptural 


INTRODUCTION.  1 7 

authority  for  ordination.      He  was  ordained  some  six  or 
seven  years  afterward,  in  1844,  at  Sullivan. 

In  such  times  of  religious  excitement  it  was  not 
necessary  for  a  man  to  have  a  college  education,  to 
become  an  acceptable  preacher.  But  father  saw  the 
advantages  of  a  good  education,  and  resolved  to  at- 
tend A.  Campbell's  school,  then  known  as  Buffalo 
Academy,  but  which  was  soon  changed  to  Bethany 
College.  But  the  means  to  acquire  an  education  must 
be  obtained  by  his  own  exertions. 

About  the  year  1839  grandfather  sold  his  place  in 
Wadsworth,  and  moved  to  the  San  dusky  Plains,  a  level, 
marshy  prairie,  in  northwestern  Ohio.  Part  of  the 
Plains  belonged  to  the  Wyandotte  Indian  Reservation, 
and  was  opened  to  settlement,  a  few  years  afterward, 
by  the  removal  of  the  Indians  to  Wyandotte,  Kansas. 

Father  and  grandfather  made  sheep-raising  their 
business  while  there.  Father  herded  sheep  in  summer 
and  taught  school  in  winter.  And,  while  herding 
sheep,  he  finished  committing  the  New  Testament  to 
memory.  He  could  repeat  it  from  beginning  to  end, 
and  even  in  his  later  years  he  remembered  it  so  well 
that  he  could  repeat  whole  chapters  at  once.  I  never 
saw  the  time  that  any  one  could  repeat  a  verse  in  the 
New  Testament  to  him,  but  that  he  could  tell  the 
book,  and  nearly  always  the  chapter  in  which  it  was 
found. 

He  and  his  father's  family  put  their  membership 


1 8  INTRODUCTION. 

into  the  church  at  Letimberville,  some  miles  distant ; 
and  there  he  occasionally  preached. 

He  sometimes  went  back  to  Wadsworth,  and  on 
the  way  back  and  forth  stopped  and  preached  for  the 
little  church  at  Sullivan,  Ashland  Co.  There  he  made 
the  acquaintance  of  Sibjl  S.  Carleton,  the  daughter  of 
Joseph  Carleton,  one  of  the  leading  members  of  the 
church.  They  were  married  August  17,  1843  ;  and 
he  never  had  cause  to  regret  his  choice,  for  she  proved 
to  him  a  helpmeet  indeed. 

While  living  there,  at  the  solicitation  of  his  neigh- 
bors, he  held  a  debate  with  a  Universalist  preacher,  to 
the  satisfaction  of  his  friends  and  the  discomfiture  of 
his  opponent. 

Many  parts  of  the  Plains  were  covered  with  water, 
and  were  musical  with  frogs  in  the  spring,  but  in  hot 
weather  they  dried  up,  leaving  here  and  there  a  stag- 
nant pond.  I  have  heard  father  tell  how  one  of  his 
neighbors  tried  to  break  a  field  by  beginning  on  the 
outside,  and  plowing  farther  in  as  the  land  dried  up. 
But  the  snakes  and  frogs  grew  thicker  and  thicker,  as 
he  neared  the  center.  At  length  the  grass  seemed  al- 
most alive  with  snakes,  and  his  big  ox-team  became 
wild  with  fright,  and  ran  away,  and  he  could  not  get 
them  back  there  again. 

Of  course,  such  a  country  was  unhealthful,  and 
father's  family  was  much  troubled  with  sickness.  His 
parents  both  died ;  my  mother  was  nearly  worn  out 


INTRODUCTION.  19 

with  the  ague  ;  and  he  not  only  suffered  from  poor 
general  health,  but  from  a  sore  throat,  and  had  to  quit 
preaching.  He  moved  to  Sullivan,  but  without  any 
permanent  benefit  to  his  health.  He  did  not  at  that 
time  attribute  his  sore  throat  entirely  to  the  climate, 
but  thought  it  a  chronic  derangement  that  would  ut- 
terly unfit  him  for  a  preacher.  Many  years  afterward 
he  wrote  of  that  disappointment  as  follows:  "For 
five  years  I  saw  myself  sitting  idly  by  the  wayside, 
hopeless  and  discouraged.  I  felt  somewhat  like  a 
traveler,  parched  with  thirst,  on  a  wide  and  weary 
desert,  who  sees  the  mirage  of  green  trees  and  springs 
of  cool  water  that  has  mocked  his  vision,  slowly  fade 
away  out  of  his  sight.  So  seemed  to  perish  my  castles 
in  the  air.  At  that  time  making  proclamation  of  the 
ancient  gospel  was  too  vigorous  a  work,  and  too  full 
of  hardship  and  exposure  to  be  undertaken  by  any  ex- 
cept those  possessing  stalwart  good  health.  If  I  had 
been  predestinated  to  the  life  I  have  actually  lived,  and 
if  it  were  necessary  that  I  should  be  chastened  to  bear 
with  patience  all  its  disabilities,  then,  I  suppose,  this 
discipline  I  actually  got  might  be  considered  good  and 
useful.  If  I  have  been  able  to  bear  provocation  with 
patience,  and  to  labor  cheerfully  without  wages,  and 
at  every  personal  sacrifice,  this  lesson  was  learned  when 
I  saw  all  my  hope  dashed  in  pieces." 

In  the  spring  of  1850  father  sold  his  property  and 
decided  to  go  to  Iowa.     Shortly  before   the  time  of 


2O  INTRODUCTION. 

starting,  my  little  sister  and  baby  brother  took  the 
scarlet  fever  and,  ere  long,  they  were  both  laid  in  the 
old  graveyard.  Heart-broken  as  my  parents  were, 
they  did  not  give  up  the  long,  lonely  journey.  Father 
bought  a  farm  in  Iowa,  and  built  a  log  house  on  it,  in- 
tending to  become  a  fanner.  He  and  mother  united 
with  the  nearest  church,  at  Long  Grove,  sixteen  miles 
distant.  Father  did  not  tell  them  at  first  that  he  had 
been  a  preacher,  but  they  questioned  him  and  learned 
the  facts.  As  his  health  improved  he  occasionally 
preached  for  them. 

Eld.  N.  A.  McConnell  gives  the  following  account 
of  his  preaching  in  Iowa : 

"  I  first  met  him  at  his  temporary  home  in  Posten's 
Grove,  in  the  fall  of  1850.  During  that  winter  he 
taught  a  shool  in  Dewitt,  Clinton  Co.,  and  preached 
occasionally  at  Long  Grove.  The  next  spring  he  at- 
tended a  co-operation  meeting  at  Walnut  Grove,  Jones 
Co. ,  at  which  he  was  employed  to  labor  with  me  in 
what  was  called  District  No.  2.  His  district  included 
the  counties  of  Scott,  Clinton,  Jackson,  Jones,  Cedar, 
Johnson,  a  part  of  Muscatine,  Linn  and  Benton,  and 
west  to  the  Missouri  river.  He  preached  at  LeClaire, 
Long  Grove,  Allen's  Grove,  Simpson's,  Big  Rock, 
Green's  School-house,  Walnut  Grove,  Marion,  Dry 
Creek,  Pleasant  Grove,  Burlison's,  Maquoketa  and 
Posten's  Grove,  as  well  as  at  numerous  school-houses 
scattered  over  a  large  district  of  the  country. 


INTRODUCTION.  21 

He  did  excellent  work  in  preaching  the  word.  He 
was  not  a  revivalist,  nor  was  his  co-laborer,  yet  there 
were  a  goodly  number  added  to  the  Lord  during  the 
year.  I  think  not  less  than  one  hundred.  The  next 
year,  1852,  the  annual  meeting  of  the  co-operation  was 
held  at  Dewitt,  Clinton  Co.  At  that  meeting  the  dis- 
trict was  divided  into  East  and  West  No.  2.  Your 
father  was  assigned  to  the  eastern  division  and  I  took 
the  western.  His  field  included  Davenport,  Long 
Grove  and  Allen's  Grove,  in  Scott  Co.  ;  Maquoketa 
and  Burlison's  in  Jackson  Co.,  and  Dewitt  in  Clinton 
Co.  He  labored  also  in  Cedar  Co.,  and  did  a  grand 
work,  not  so  much  in  the  numbers  added  as  in  the 
sowing  the  good  seed  of  the  Kingdom,  and  recom- 
mending our  plea  to  the  more  intelligent  and  better  in- 
formed of  the  various  communities  where  he  labored. 
You  will  remember  that  he  held  in  mind  nearly  the 
entire  New  Testament,  so  that  he  could  quote  it  most 
accurately.  I  think  he  had  also  the  clearest  and  most 
minute  details  of  the  Old  Testament  history,  of  any 
man  I  ever  knew.  Nor  was  his  reading  and  recollec- 
tion limited  to  Bible  details  ;  for  he  was  very  familiar 
with  other  history,  both  sacred  and  profane. 

"  I  call  to  mind  two  sermons  that  he  delivered.  One 
was  based  on  the  language  of  Christ  addressed  to  the 
woman  of  Samaria,  at  Jacob's  well — John  iv.  :  '  Ye 
worship  ye  know  not  what.  We  know  what  we  wor- 
ship ;  for  salvation  is  of  the  Jews. '  In  this  sermon  he 


22  INTRODUCTION. 

detailed  the  history  of  Israel  to  the  revolt  under  Jere- 
boam,  the  history  of  Jereboam  and  his  successors 
until  the  overthrow  of  the  ten  tribes,  and  the  forma- 
tion of  the  mongrel  nation  called  Samaritans.  In  this 
he  showed  that  God's  promise — Ex.  xx.,  4  In  all 
places  where  I  record  my  name,  I  will  meet  with  you 
and  bless  you,'  was  fully  realized  by  the  people  of 
God,  and  that  a  disregard  of  the  law  in  harmony  with 
this  promise  was  followed  by  most  disastrous  results. 
And  that  the  same  is  true  under  the  Gospel — where 
his  name  is  recorded,  and  only  there,  he  now  meets 
and  blesses  his  people. 

"The  second  sermon  was  on  the  subject  of  'Justifi- 
cation by  faith.'  This  was  doubtless  one  of  the  very 
best  efforts  of  his  life.  I  will  not  trouble  you  with  the 
details  of  this  grand  effort,  since  it  was  published  in  full 
in  the  Evangelist  in  1852.  The  sermon  was  published, 
not  by  his  request,  but  by  the  unanimous  voice  of  the 
State  Meeting  held  in  Davenport  that  year. 

"  I  am  sorry  that  I  can  not  give  more  of  the  details 
of  his  grand  work  in  Iowa." 

The  winter  of  1851-2  was  very  cold,  but  father  did 
not  stop  for  bad  weather.  I  remember  that  when  he 
started  to  his  appointment  one  cold  morning  mother 
cried  for  fear  he  would  freeze  to  death.  The  mail-carrier 
did  freeze  to  death  that  day,  but  father  kept  from  freezing 
by  walking.  The  next  summer  was  very  rainy,  and 
mother  was  always  anxious  when  there  were  high 


INTRODUCTION.  23 

waters,  for  there  were  no  bridges,  and  father  always 
swam  his  horse  across  streams,  although  he  could 
not  swim  a  stroke. 

Then  he  preached  for  several  years  in  Illinois,  and 
was  gone  for  months  at  a  time. 

In  July,  1854,  my  little  sister — for  by  that  time  I  had 
another  brother  and  sister — after  a  brief  illness,  closed 
her  eyes  in  death.  Fortunately  father  was  at  home,  to 
mingle  his  tears  with  mother's,  over  the  little  coffin. 

The  next  spring  father  sold  his  Iowa  farm. 

Before  leaving  there  an  incident  occurred  that  I  dis- 
tinctly remember.  The  Iowa  Legislature  had  passed 
some  kind  of  temperance  law,  and  the  people  were 
to  vote  on  it  at  the  spring  election.  Our  country 
lyceum  formed  itself  into  a  mock  court,  and  tried  King 
Alcohol  for  various  crimes  and  misdemeanors.  Father 
was  appointed  prosecuting  attorney,  and  he  went  at  it 
in  earnest,  as  he  always  did  at  anything  he  under- 
took. He  sent  for  every  man  in  the  vicinity  who  ever 
drank,  or  who  had  good  opportunities  to  observe  the 
effect  of  drink  on  others,  to  appear  as  a  witness  against 
King  Alcohol  The  trial  lasted  three  evenings,  with 
increasing  crowds.  Father's  adroitness  in  drawing  facts 
from  witnesses — often  against  their  will — kept  the 
audience  laughing  and  applauding.  I  remember  hear- 
ing people  say  that  he  had  mistaken  his  calling;  that  he 
ought  to  have  been  a  lawyer.  On  the  last  evening, 
when  he  addressed  the  jury,  he  became  eloquent.  He 


24  INTRODUCTION. 

pictured  the  terrible  effects  of  intemperance,  the 
ruined  homes,  the  weeping  wives,  the  ragged  children. 
He  denounced  King  Alcohol  as  guilty  of  every  known 
crime — of  stealing  the  bread  from  the  mouths  of 
children,  of  robbing  helpless  women  of  everything 
they  valued  most,  of  brutally  shedding  the  blood  of 
thousands,  and  of  filling  the  whole  earth  with  violence, 
until  the  cries  of  widows  and  orphans  reached  to  high 
heaven.  When  he  finished,  the  house  rang  with  ap- 
plause. The  attorney  for  the  defense  tried  to  reply, 
but  the  boys  said  Mr.  Butler  had  spoiled  his  speech. 
The  jury  brought  in  a  verdict  of  guilty.  The  election 
came  off  soon  afterwards,  and  people  said  that  it  was 
strongly  influenced,  in  that  township,  by  father's 
speech. 

The  next  May,  mother,  my  little  brother,  and  I, 
went  to  my  uncle  Gorham's,  near  Canton,  Illinois ; 
while  father  went  to  Kansas  to  buy  land,  intending, 
however,  to  live  several  years  at  Mt.  Sterling,  Illinois, 
before  moving  to  Kansas. 

MRS.  ROSETTA  B.  HASTINGS. 


PERSONAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

I  came  to  Kansas  in  the  spring  of  1855,  having 
been  preaching  in  that  part  of  Illinois  known  as  the 
Military  Tract,  during  the  three  preceding  years ;  but 
my  residence  was  in  Cedar  County,  Iowa,  one  hundred 
and  fifty  miles  from  my  field  of  labor,  and  twenty-six 
miles  to  the  northwest  of  the  city  of  Davenport.  I  had 
been  employed  for  one  year  in  Iowa  as  a  co-laborer 
with  Bro.  N.  A.  McConnell ;  but  the  church  at  Daven- 
port, which  was  the  strongest  and  richest  church  in  the 
Cooperation,  determined  to  sustain  a  settled  pastor, 
and  this  left  the  churches  too  poor  to  support  two 
preachers,  and  I  was  left  to  find  another  field  of  labor. 

When  I  first  came  to  Cedar  County  I  came  simply 
as  a  farmer ;  and  there  were  but  nine  families  in  the 
township  in  which  we  settled.  But  when  the  country 
came  to  be  settled  up  the  result  was  not  favorable  to 
the  expectation  that  we  should  have  prosperous 
churches  in  that  region.  Those  who  have  watched  the 
progress  of  the  temperance  reform  in  Iowa  have  no- 
ticed that,  while  the  prohibitory  law  is  enforced  almost 
throughout  the  State^  there  are  yet  exceptions  in  the 
cities  of  Davenport  and  Muscatine  and  the  adjacent 


26  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

counties.      Here  the   law  is  set  at  defiance.     This  is 
owing  to  the  presence  of  a  German,  lager-beer-drink 
ing,    law-defying  population,    Godless  and   Christless, 
and  that  turn  the   Lord's  day  into  a  holiday.      This 
tendency  had  begun  to  be  apparent  before  I  left  Iowa 

When  it  became  manifest  that  I  could  not  any 
longer  find  a  field  of  labor  in  Southeastern  Iowa,  I  was 
recommended  to  the  churches  in  the  counties  of 
Schuyler  and  Brown,  in  the  Military  Tract,  Illinois. 

My  first  introduction  among  them  was  dramatic,  if, 
indeed,  we  could  give  to  an  incident  almost  frivolous 
and  laughable,  the  dignity  of  a  dramatic  incident ;  and 
yet  the  matter  had  a  serious  side  to  it.  I  had  been 
commended  by  Bro.  Bates,  editor  of  the  Iowa  Chris, 
tian  Evangelist,  to  the  church  at  Rushville,  where  I 
held  a  meeting  of  days.  The  meetings  grew  in  inter- 
est, there  were  some  important  additions,  and  the 
church  was  greatly  revived.  Twelve  miles  from  Rush- 
ville was  the  town  of  Ripley,  a  small  village,  where 
the  people  were  engaged  in  the  business  of  manufact- 
uring pottery  ware.  Here  two  Second  Adventist 
preachers,  a  Mr.  Chapman  and  his  wife,  were  holding 
forth.  This  Mr.  Chapman  was  a  devout,  pious,  and 
earnest  man,  and  a  good  exhorter,  and  had  an  unfalter- 
ing faith  that  the  Lord  was  immediately  to  appear. 
But  his  wife  was  the  smartest  one  in  the  family.  She 
was  fluent  and  voluble.  She  had  an  unabashed  fore- 
head and  a  bitter  and  defiant  tongue.  It  was  her 
hobby  to  declaim  against  the  popular  idea  of  the  exist- 
ence of  the  human  spirit  apart  from  the  body.  With 
her  this  was  equivalent  to  a  witch  riding  on  a  broom- 
stick or  going  to  heaven  on  a  moonbeam.  Spirit  is 
breath — so  she  dogmatically  affirmed — and  when  a  man 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  2/ 

breathes  out  his  last  breath  his  spirit  leaves  his  body. 
But  it  was  her  especial  delight  to  declaim  against  the 
Pagan  notion  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  and  to  affirm 
that  the  Bible  says  nothing  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul. 
A  Bro.  McPherson  undertook  to  contest  the  matter 
with  her,  but,  not  finding  the  scripture  he  was  looking 
for,  .she  exclaimed  with  bitter  and  vixenish  speech, 
"Ah!  You  can't  find  it!  You  can't  find  it!  It 
is  n't  there  !  I;told  you  so  !  "  And  thus  this  couple 
were  fast  demoralizing  the  church,  Billy  Greenwell, 
the  richest  man  in  the  church,  being  wholly  carried 
away  with  this  fanaticism.  John  Brown  lived  half  way 
between  Ripley  and  Rushville,  but  was  a  member  of 
the  church  at  Rushville.  Bro.  Brown  was  a  man  of 
good  sense,  excellent  character,  and  had  been  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Legislature.  He  attended  our  meeting  at 
Rushville,  and,  in  the  intervals  of  the  meeting,  was 
full  of  questions  concerning  this  heresy  that  had  been 
sprung  on  them  at  Ripley. 

Our  meeting  at  Rushville  came  to  a  close.  It  had 
been  a  good  meeting  ;  the  church  had  been  revived, 
and  there  had  been  important  additions.  I  took  dinner 
with  Bro.  Brown,  and  in  the  afternoon  we  rode  toward 
Ripley.  On  crossing  the  ferry  at  Crooked  Creek, 
"Old  Rob  Burton,"  the  ferryman,  a  tall,  stalwart  Ken- 
tuckian,  looking  down  on  me,  asked,  "Are  you  the 
man  that 's  goin'  to  preach  at  Ripley  to-night?  " 

"Yes." 

"  Wall,  do  n't  you  know  thar  's  a  woman  thar  that 's 
goin'  to  skin  you  ?" 

' '  Well,  I  do  n't  know.   We  shall  see  how  it  will  be  ?" 

At  Rushville  I  had  done  my  best,  and  now,  being 
withdrawn  from  the  excitement  of  the  meeting,  felt  ex- 


28  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

hausted ;  and  determined  not  to  touch  any  debatable 
question  that  night.  The  house  was  crowded  with 
eager  and  expectant  listeners.  My  fame  had  gone  be- 
fore me,  and  the  "  woman  preacher "  was  present, 
ready  for  a  fight.  But,  alas !  My  sermon  was  a 
bucket  of  cold  water  poured  on  the  heads  of  my  breth- 
ren. At  any  other  time  it  would  have  been  accepted 
as  a  good  and  edifying  exhortation  ;  but  now,  how  un- 
timely !  The  meeting  was  dismissed  and  the  buzzing 
was  as  if  a  hive  of  bees  had  just  been  ready  to  swarm. 
The  woman's  disciples  were  jubilant ;  and,  above  the 
din  and  hurly-burly,  I  heard  a  thin,  squeaking  voice 
say,  "Give  that  woman  a  Bible,  and  she  would  say 
more  in  five  minutes  than  that  man  has  said  in  his 
whole  dis-c-o-u-rse. "  This  was  Billy  Green  well. 

Brother  Brown  said  nothing  that  night;  but  the 
next  morning  he  said  to  me : 

' '  Bro.  B. ,  the  people  were  disappointed  with  you 
last  night." 

"Why,  Bro.  B.,  was  it  not  a  good  sermon  ?" 

"Yes;  but  it  was  not  what  the  ;people  expected." 

"Bro.  B.,  did  the  people  expect  me,  uninvited,  to 
pitch  into  a  quarrel  with  which  I  have  nothing  what- 
ever to  do  ?  " 

"Oh,  is  that  it?  Well,  wait  a  little  and  you  shall 
have  an  invitation." 

Bro.  Brown  went  out,  and  soon  returned  with  a  re- 
quest that  I  should  discuss  the  question  that  Mr. 
Chapman  and  his  wife  had  been  debating.  I  sat  down 
and  wrote  out  a  statement  of  the  subjects  on  which  I 
proposed  to  speak  in  all  the  evenings  of  the  coming 
week.  The  first  commanded  universal  attention  :  * '  Does 
the  spirit  die  when  the  body  dies  ?  "  They  had  never 


PERSONAL     RECOLLECTIONS.  2p 

thought  of  that.  They  had  been  thunderstruck  when 
this  woman  told  them  that  the  Bible  says  nothing 
about  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  but  beyond  this 
they  had  never  gone.  There  was  probably  more  Bible 
reading  that  day  in  Ripley  than  any  day  before  or  since. 

At  night  the  house  was  jammed,  and  "the  woman" 
was  there,  Bible  in  hand.  I  began :  ' '  The  Bible 
speaks  of  a  man  as  composed  of  body,  soul  and  spirit. 
The  body  is  that  material  tabernacle  in  which  a  man 
dwells,  and  which  Paul  hoped  to  put  off  that  he  might 
be  clothed  with  a  house  not  made  with  hands,  eternal 
in  the  heavens.  The  soul  is  that  animal  life  we  have 
in  common  with  all  living  and  material  things.  Thus 
Jesus  is  said  to  have  poured  out  his  soul  unto  death. 
But  what  of  the  spirit  ?  God  is  spirit,  and  God  can  not 
die.  The  angels  are  spirits,  and  the  angels  can  not 
die ;  Jesus  says  so.  Man  has  a  spirit,  and  can  man's 
spirit  die  ?  But  spirit  sometimes  means  breath.  Yes, 
and  heaven  sometimes  means  the  firmament  above  our 
heads,  where  the  birds  fly.  But  does  it  never  mean 
more  than  this?  Paradise  sometimes  means  the  happy 
garden  where  Adam  and  Eve  dwelt ;  but  does  it  never 
mean  more  than  that  ?  So,  granting  that  spirit  some- 
times means  breath,  may  it  not  also  mean  more  than 
that? 

"  When  Jesus  said,  *  Into  thy  hands  I  commend 
my  spirit/  did  he  mean,  *  Into  thy  hands  I  commend 
my  breath  '  ?  So,  when  the  disciples  saw  Jesus  walk- 
ing on  the  water  and  cried  out,  '  It  is  a  spirit, '  did 
Jesus  say  to  them,  'This  is  an  old  wives'  fable;  there 
is  no  such  thing  as  a  spirit '  ?  Did  he  not  rather  say  to 
them,  '  It  is  I ;  be  not  afraid/  So,  also,  when  he  ap- 
peared to  them  in  a  room,  the  doors  being  shut,  and 


3O  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

and  they  cried  out,  'It  is  a  spirit/  he  said  to  them, 
'  Handle  me  and  see ;  for  a  spirit  hath  not  flesh  and 
bones,  as  ye  see  me  have.'  In  all  this  Jesus  encour- 
aged the  disciples  to  hold  the  idea  which  was  then  pop- 
ular among  the  Jews,  that  the  spirit  may  exist  apart 
from  the  body,  and  after  the  body  is  dead." 

I  thus  discoursed  to  them  for  one  hour  in  develop- 
ment of  the  Bible  teachings  concerning  human  spirits; 
and  in  my  turn  ridiculed  the  persons  that  had  ridiculed 
the  ideas  that  had  evidently  been  held  by  Jesus  and 
the  apostles. 

Mrs.  Chapman  had  always  invited  objections  ;  but  she 
was  sure  to  make  an  endless  talk  over  them.  I  said, ' '  We 
will  not  have  an  endless  confabulation  to-night ;  but  I 
will  quote  one  passage  of  Scripture,  and  on  that  I 
will  rest  my  case.  Any  other  person  may  then  quote 
one  passage  of  Scripture  and  on  that  rest  the  case.  I 
have  preached  one  sermon ;  -  the  other  party  has 
preached  twenty.  So  far  we  will  count  ourselves  even, 
and  it  only  remains  that  I  should  quote  my  Scripture, 
and  let  the  other  party  quote  the  one  Scripture  on  the 
opposite  side,  and  then  we  will  be  dismissed."  I  gave 
the  views  of  the  Pharisees  and  of  the  Sadducees  as  de- 
tailed by  Josephus,  and  then  quoted  Luke  in  the  Acts 
of  Apostles :  ' '  The  Sadducees  say  there  is  no  resur- 
rection, neither  angel  nor  spirit ;  but  the  Pharisees  con- 
fess both."  And  Paul  says,  "  Men  and  brethren,  I  am 
a  Pharisee,  the  son  of  a  Pharisee. "  So  I  also  say,  I  am  a 
Pharisee,  the  son  of  a  Pharisee,  and  hold  to  the  exist- 
ence of  human  and  angelic  spirits. 

When  I  announced  that  I  should  call  for  objections, 
I  saw  Mrs.  Chapman  take  up  her  Bible  in  a  flutter  and 
nervously  turn  over  its  leaves.  When  I  sat  down  all 


PERSONAL     RECOLLECTIONS.  3 1 

eyes  were  turned  on  her,  and  there  was  a  death-like 
stillness  in  the  house.  Then  she  rose  up,  and  in  a  mo- 
ment was  out  of  the  house.  She  left  the  town  the  next 
morning  and  never  came  back.  Then  it  was  "Old 
Bob  Burton's  "  turn  to  speak.  He  said  to  Billy  Green- 
well  :  '  *  Your  chest  is  locked,  and  the  key  is  lost  in 
the  bottom  of  the  sea." 

The  brethren  were  gratified  that  the  power  of  this 
"soul-sleeping"  delusion  was  broken.  Billy  Green- 
well  never  recovered  from  his  infatuation.  He  after- 
wards built  a  house  that,  in  the  number  of  rooms  it 
contained,  was  wholly  beyond  his  necessities.  But  he 
thought  that  when  the  Lord  should  come,  and  he 
should  own  all  the  land  that  joined  him,  and  should 
have  children  to  his  heart's  desire,  then  he  would  need 
all  the  room. 


CHAPTER  II. 

From  Ripley  I  went  to  Mt.  Sterling,  the  county- 
seat  of  Brown  County.  This  church  had  fallen  into  de- 
cay for  want  of  the  care  of  a  competent  evangelist. 
Here  I  remained  some  weeks;  and  the  church  was 
very  much  revived,  and  there  was  a  large  ingathering. 
This  was  originally  the  home  of  Bro.  Archie  Glenn, 
now  conspicuous  in  building  up  the  University  at 
Wichita.  From  the  first  Bro.  Glenn,  though  modest 
and  unobtrusive,  was  known  as  a  solid  and  helpful 
member  of  the  church.  He  always  had  the  confidence 
of  the  people  of  Brown  County,  and  was  by  them 
elected  to  various  public  offices,  at  last  becoming  Lieu  - 
tenant-Governor  of  the  State.  But  his  business  not 
prospering  to  suit  him,  he  removed  to  Wichita,  which 
was  at  that  time  a  straggling  village  of  uncertain  for- 
tunes, situated  on  a  river  of  doubtful  reputation,  and 
located  in  a  country  concerning  which  the  public  were 
debating  whether  it  should  be  called  "The  Great 
American  Desert,'*  or  a  decent  place,  where  civilized 
men  could  live  and  thrive. 

But  Bro.  Glenn  did  not  lose  faith  in  the  Lord  nor 
in  his  country.  He  went  to  his  new  home  to  be  a  live 
man.  Wichita  has  decided  to  be  a  city,  and  not  a 
straggling  village  of  doubtful  and  cow-boy  reputation  ; 
the  Arkansas  River  has  agreed  to  behave  itself  and  to 
co-operate  with  human  hands  in  giving  fertility  to  its 


PERSONAL     RECOLLECTIONS.  33 

valley,  and  the  geographers  have  unanimously  agreed 
to  strike  the  "  Great  American  Desert''  from  the  map 
of  the  United  States.  Sister  Shields  has  grown  up 
since  these  old  days  to  be  a  woman,  then  a  widow, 
and  now  a  true  yoke-fellow  with  her  father  in  these 
great  undertakings. 

Bro.  Lewis  Brockman  was  pointed  out  to  me,  when 
first  I  carne  to  Mt.  Sterling,  as  a  disaffected  member ; 
but,  on  a  better  acquaintance,  it  became  apparent  that 
his  disaffection  was  that  the  church  members  had  made 
a  solemn  vow  to  keep  the  ordinances  of  the  Lord's 
house,  and  did  not  do  it.  When  better  order  was  ob- 
tained, he  was  once  more  in  harmony  with  the  church  ; 
came  to  Atchison  County,  Kansas,  and  died,  a  pat- 
tern of  fidelity  to  his  conscience  and  to  every  known 
duty. 

During  the  period  of  three  years  in  which  I  re- 
mained preaching  in  the  Military  Tract,  I  visited 
almost  all  its  churches.  The  number  of  disciples  was 
large.  They  had  a  large  amount  of  wealth  at  their 
disposal,  and  were  not  averse  to  using  it  to  promote 
the  advancement  of  the  cause.  But  the  children  of 
this  world  are,  in  their  generation,  wiser  than  the  chil- 
dren of  light,  and  there  is  a  certain  practical  wisdom 
that  has  been  abundantly  learned  by  other  religious 
communities  that  has  only  come  to  our  churches 
through  a  sore  and  bitter  experience;  and  it  was 
through  the  fire  of  this  experience  they  were  passing  at 
the  time  of  which  we  write.  "  Billy  Brown"  had  been 
a  notable  evangelist  among  them.  Indeed,  he  had 
been  the  father  in  the  gospel  of  the  churches  in  Brown 
and  Schuyler  Counties.  He  was  popularly  described 
as  having  a  head  "  as  big  as  a  half  bushel, "  surmounted 


34  PERSONAL     RECOLLECTIONS. 

by  a  great  shock  of  hair.  He  was  an  iconoclast,  and 
devoted  his  life  to  the  business  of  image-breaking,  and,  of 
course,  the  breaking  in  pieces  of  the  idols  of  the  peo- 
ple created  a  great  tumult.  There  was  this  difference, 
and  only  this  difference,  between  the  work  of  Billy 
Brown  and  Sam  Jones ;  Sam  Jones  declaims  against 
sins  already  condemned  by  the  popular  conscience, 
but  Billy  Brown  assailed  convictions  enshrined  in  the 
innermost  sanctuary  of  the  hearts  of  the  people.  He 
did  so  because  these  popular  superstitions  stood  in  the 
way  of  the  acceptance  by  the  people  of  the  apostolic 
gospel.  Of  course,  the  work  of  such  a  man  carried 
with  it  an  inconceivable  excitement.  At  Mt.  Sterling 
a  man  in  the  audience  made  some  objection. 

"  What  is  your  name  ?  "  said  Billy  Brown. 

"My  name,  sir,  is  Trotter." 

"Well,  come  forward,  and  I  will  knock  your  trot- 
ters out  from  under  you." 

But  Billy  himself  sometimes  found  his  match.  At 
Ripley  he  had  been  preaching  after  his  accustomed 
style,  and  riding  away  from  the  place  of  meeting — it 
was  in  the  spring  of  the  year  when  the  mud  was  deep — 
he  saw  an  old  man  painfully  and  with  difficulty  making 
his  way  through  the  mud.  Knowing  that  he  was  a 
preacher  from  his  white  cravat,  his  broad-brimmed  hat 
and  single-breasted  coat,  he  said  to  him : 

"  Well,  old  Daddy,  how  did  you  Jike  the  preach- 
ing?" 

"  Haven't  heard  any,"  stiffly  replied  the  old  gen- 
tleman. 

But  when  the  tumult  and  excitement  of  this  conflict 
had  passed  away,  and  his  converts  were  brought 
face  to  face  with  the  grave  duties  of  a  religious  life. 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  35 

and  with  the  serious  work  of  keeping  the  ordinances 
of  the  Lord's  house,  they  did  not  know  how ;  they  had 
been  born  in  a  whirlwind  and  could  only  live  in  a  tem- 
pest. Notwithstanding,  they  loved  the  Lord's  cause, 
and  they  trembled  for  themselves  and  their  children,  if 
they  should  not  be  found  faithful. 

If  these  churches  are  not  able  at  the  present  time 
to  exhibit  a  growth  adequate  to  their  opportunities,  it 
must  be  remembered,  on  their  behalf,  that  they  have 
sent  to  the  West  an  incredibly  large  number  of  disci- 
ples to  serve  as  the  nuclei  for  other  churches  through- 
out that  mighty  empire  that  within  the  past  thirty 
years  has  grown  up  between  the  Missouri  River  and 
the  Pacific  Ocean. 

The  days  I  spent  in  these  churches  are  the  golden 
days  of  my  life.  There  has  been  no  field  in  which  my 
labor  as  an  evangelist  has  yielded  a  richer  harvest ; 
none  in  which  there  have  been  bestowed  on  me  more 
flattering  or  more  kindly  attentions.  It  was  the  bright 
and  joyous  sunshine  of  a  spring  morning,  before  the 
bursting  of  the  storm. 

Though  each  year  increased  my  attachment  to  the 
people,  and  apparently  added  their  good-will  to  myself, 
there  had  been  coming  to  the  front  a  difficulty  that 
could  not  any  longer  be  thrust  aside  or  disregarded.  I 
was  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  away  from  home,  and 
from  my  wife  and  children.  On  holding  a  council  of 
war  to  consider  our  future  tactics,  in  which  Mrs.  But- 
ler, was  commander-in-chief,  and  myself,  second  in 
command,  she  said  to  me,  * '  Pardee,  I  am  willing  to 
go  wherever  you  say,  only  when  we  go  there  we  must 
go  to  stay.  We  must  not  put  our  house  on  wheels. 
We  must  not  leave  our  children  without  settled  em- 


36  PERSONAL     RECOLLECTIONS. 

ployment,  exposed  to  all  the  hazards  of  a  city  life,  or  a 
life  without  a  permanent  habitation. " 

Under  such  circumstances  the  settling  on  a  home 
in  reference  to  which  it  could  be  said,  "  Here  we  are  to 
stay,"  was  not  an  easy  matter.  The  people  of  the  Mil- 
itary Tract  were,  almost  all  of  them,  Kentuckians. 
There  were  evidently  impending  storms  in  the  political 
horizon.  I  could  not  bend  my  sails  to  suit  every  fa- 
voring gale ;  and  if,  in  the  future,  there  should  come  a 
time  that  my  conscience  should  lie  in  one  direction, 
and  my  popularity  and  pecuniary  interest  in  the  other, 
I  did  not  like  to  invite  such  a  temptation.  At  any 
rate,  I  did  not  like  to  place  myself  in  such  a  position 
that  to  bring  down  on  my  head  popular  odium  would 
be  to  invite  pecuniary  ruin.  These  counties  in  the 
Military  Tract  were  old  settled  counties,  and  land  was 
high ;  and  I  was  not  rich.  At  this  time  the  Kansas- 
Nebraska  bill  had  been  adopted  by  Congress,  and 
Kansas  had  been  opened  for  settlement.  It  was  cer- 
tain that  Eastern  Kansas,  in  the  matter  of  fertility  of 
soil,  and  all  the  elements  of  agricultural  wealth,  would 
be  a  desirable  location. 

"  But  there  might  be  a  political  and  social  conflict." 
Yes,  and  there  might  be  a  political  and  social  conflict 
in  Illinois  ;  or,  for  the  matter  of  that,  it  might  cover 
the  West  as  with  a  blanket.  It  was  certain  that  East- 
ern Kansas  would  be  early  settled  from  Missouri ;  and 
in  no  State  was  there  a  larger  percentage  of  the  peo- 
ple known  as  Disciples.  I  would,  therefore,  be  among 
my  brethren ;  and,  if  I  had  kept  the  peace  for  three 
years  with  Kentuckians  in  Illinois,  could  I  not  do  the 
same  thing  with  Missourians  in  Kansas?  In  any  case, 
there  was  a  fair  prospect  of  gaining  in  Kansas  a  posi- 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  37 

tion  of  pecuniary  independence  ;  and  any  man  can  see 
that  such  a  position  was  worth  all  the  world  to  Alex- 
ander Campbell,  when  he  was  constrained  by  his  con- 
science to  bring  down  on  his  own  head  the  utmost 
wrath  of  his  Baptist  brethren. 

I  started  in  the  spring  of  1855  to  ride  on  horseback 
through  Missouri ;  but  was  soon  made  to  feel  that  there 
were  more  things  in  this  world  than  were  known  in  my 
philosophy.  I  had  determined  to  remain  over  Sunday 
in  Linnville,  Linn  County,  Missouri,  the  county-seat 
of  the  county,  as  here  was  a  congregation  of  Disciples  ; 
and  called  on  a  merchant  of  the  place,  who  had  been 
mentioned  as  one  of  the  leading  members.  He  re- 
marked that  he  had  become  acquainted  with  me 
through  the  Christian  Evangelist,  published  by  Bro. 
Bates,  in  Iowa ;  but,  on  learning  my  destination, 
seemed  strangely  oblivious  that  anything  more  should 
be  due  from  him  to  me.  And  so,  having  waited  pa- 
tiently about  for  a  goodly  time,  I  mounted  my  horse 
and  rode  on  till  dark ;  then  seeing  a  light,  and  having 
called  at  the  house,  I  found  an  old  man  who  kindly  re- 
ceived and  lodged  me.  In  the  morning  it  appeared 
that  his  house  was  surrounded  by  negro  cabins.  Hav- 
ing inquired  my  destination,  he  began  to  talk  to  me 
concerning  the  subject  that  seemed  to  be  in  every 
man's  heart.  I  replied,  submitting  to  him  such  views 
as  were  held  by  a  majority  of  Northern  men.  To  my 
surprise  he  flared  up  in  anger,  and  said  : 

"  If  you  talk  that  way  when  you  get  to  Kansas  you 
will  never  come  back  again  ;  they  will  hang  you." 

The  thing  was  so  absurd   I  only  laughed  in  the  old 
man's  face,  and  said  to  him : 

"  Well,  you  can  not  teach  an  old  dog  new  tricks. 


38  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

I  have  spoken  my  mind  so  long  that  I  shall  continue 
to  do  it  if  they  do  hang  me,"  and  so  bade  him  good-bye. 

It  was  Sunday  morning,  and  it  was  eighteen  miles 
to  Chillicothe.  Arriving  at  the  hotel,  the  people  were 
getting  ready  for  meeting.  On  questioning  them 
where  they  were  going,  the  landlord  replied  : 

"To  the  Christian  Church.  Will  you  not  go  along 
with  us?" 

On  asking  my  name  he  said : 

' '  O  yes  ;  I  have  seen  your  name  in  the  Christian 
Evangelist.  You  have  been  preaching  in  Illinois.  I 
will  introduce  you  to  our  preacher,  and  we  will  make 
an  appointment  for  you  this  afternoon." 

This  landlord  was  a  brother  to  that  Congressman 
Graves  that  shot  Cilley,  a  member  of  Congress  from 
Maine,  in  a  duel  with  rifles,  at  Washington.  The  peo- 
ple described  "  mine  host "  as  one  of  "  fighting  stock  v  ; 
and  spoke  of  him  as  being  as  thoughtful  of  the  com- 
fort, health  and  welfare  of  his  slaves  as  of  his  own  chil- 
dren. To  me  he  seemed  simply  a  genial,  jovial, 
friendly  and  traditional  "Boniface,"  chiefly  intent  on 
furnishing  comfortable  fare  and  an  enjoyable  place  for 
his  guest. 

By  the  members  of  the  Christian  Church  I  was 
kindly  received,  and  was  invited  to  take  dinner  with 
the  preacher.  After  dinner  two  brethren  came  in,  to 
whom  I  had  been  introduced  at  the  meeting-house. 
After  some  desultory  talk,  they  asked  me  : 

' '  Are  you  an  abolitionist  ?  " 

I  was  both  angry  and  confounded.  I  had  never  in 
my  life  made  myself  conspicuous  in  this  controversy 
that  was  going  on  between  North  and  South,  and  why 
should  I  be  insulted  with  such  a  question.  I  did  not 


PERSONAL     RECOLLECTIONS.  $9 

answer  yes  or  no,  but  proceeded  to  give  my  views  on 
the  subject  in  general.  They  listened  and  remarked 
that  they  did  not  see  anything  offensive  in  such  views ; 
then  made  this  apology  for  their  seeming  rudeness: 
An  old  man,  a  preacher,  whom  they  called  Father 
Clark,  had  come  from  Pennsylvania  to  Chilli cothe  to 
live  with  a  married  daughter,  and  had  said  something 
concerning  slavery  offensive  to  the  people,  and  they 
had  called  a  meeting  of  the  citizens,  and  he  had  been 
driven  out  of  town  and  ordered  never  to  return.  They 
had,  furthermore,  resolved  that  no  abolitionist  should 
thereafter  be  allowed  to  preach  in  the  city.  These 
brethren  explained  that,  as  I  would  be  called  on  and  in- 
terrogated by  a  committee,  they  thought  it  would  be 
better  that  this  should  be  done  by  friends,  than  that  I 
should  be  questioned  by  strangers. 

• '  Are  You  an  Abolitionist  ?  " 

I  was  angry  with  myself  for  having  consented  to 
preach  a  sermon  after  being  met  with  such  a  question. 
But  by  mine  host,  Bro.  Graves,  I  was  treated  with 
the  most  frank  and  manly  courtesy,  albeit  that  he  was 
brother  to  the  man  that  shot  a  brother  congressman  in 
a  duel  with  rifles.  He  seemed  to  feel  like  the  town 
clerk  at  Ephesus  :  ' '  What  man  is  there  that  knoweth 
not  that  the  city  of  the  Ephesians  is  a  worshiper  of  the 
great  goddess  Diana,  and  of  the  image  that  fell  down 
from  Jupiter  ?  Seeing  then  that  these  things  can  not 
be  spoken  against,  ye  ought  to  be  quiet  and  do  noth- 
ing rashly." 

The  Hannibal  &.St.  Joseph  Railroad  was  just  being 
located  through  the  city,  yet  the  town  was  a  dead 
town,  though  it  was  surrounded  by  a  fertile  and  pros- 
perous country.  Bro.  Graves  seemed  awake  to  all  its 


4O  PERSONAL     RECOLLECTIONS. 

advantages,  and  pressed  me  to  remain,  pointing  out 
the  rapid  advance  that  must  take  place  in  the  value  of 
its  property.  But  I  kept  thinking  of  the  question  : 
"  Are  you  an  abolitionist?  "  and  bade  him  farewell. 

At  nightfall  I  found  myself  beyond  Gallatin,  on  the 
road  to  St.  Joseph.  As  there  were  no  hotels  I  called 
at  a  private  house  and  was  hospitably  received.  This 
man,  on  whom  I  had  called,  had  come  from  the  State 
of  Pennsylvania,  and  had  grown  to  a  prosperous 
farmer.  There  seemed  to  be  no  books  or  newspapers 
about  the  house  ;  but  he  was  shrewd  and  sagacious  to 
a  proverb,  and  was  eager  to  hear  from  the  land  of  his 
fathers,  and  of  what  was  the  cause  of  all  this  din  and 
clamor  and  excitement  of  the  people  about  him.  What 
was  the  meaning  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill  ?  What 
were  the  intentions  of  the  Black  Republicans  ?  What 
was  the  New  York  Tribune  doing,  that  it  should  raise 
such  a  tumult  ?  And  what  were  the  purposes  of  the 
Emigrant  Aid  Society  that  it  should  be  such  an  offense 
to  the  people  in  Missouri  ? 

On  my  own  part,  I  also  had  much  to  learn  from  this 
man,  so  shrewd  and  well-informed,  and  yet  so  igno- 
rant. What  did  it  mean  that  citizens  of  Missouri 
should  go  over  in  force  and  vote  in  the  Territory  of 
Kansas  ?  We  had  heard  something  of  this  in  Illinois, 
but  supposed  it  was  something  done  by  that  turbulent 
and  somewhat  lawless  element  that  gathers  along  the 
borders  of  civilization ;  but  now  it  was  apparent  that 
this  movement  was  under  control  of  leading  citizens  of 
Missouri,  and  had  been  participated  in  by  conscientious 
men,  members  of  the  various  churches  of  Missouri, 
who  would  in  no  wise  knowingly  do  anything  wrong. 
What  did  it  mean  ? 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  4! 

The  reader  will  not  be  surprised  that  we  should  sit 
up  to  a  late  hour  of  the  night,  nor  that  we  should  re- 
new the  subject  again  in  the  morning.  When  I  had 
got  ready  to  leave  this  man,  who  had  so  hospitably  en- 
tertained me,  he  explained  that  he  had  business  on  the 
road  on  which  I  was  traveling,  and  that  he  would  ac- 
company me  a  number  of  miles. 

This  emigrant  from  Pennsylvania,  now  a  citizen  of 
Missouri,  who  carried  his  library  in  his  brain  and  read  his 
books  when  he  conversed  with  men,  and  kept  his  own 
counsel  and  lived  in  peace  with  his  neighbors,  was  now 
about  to  say  farewell.  With  some  hesitation  he  said : 
"  Mr.  Butler,  I  thank  you  for  all  you  have  told  me.  I 
feel  just  as  you  do ;  but  I  must  advise  you  to  be  care- 
ful how  you  talk  to  other  men  as  you  have  talked  to 
me.  There  are  many  in  this  country  that  would  shoot 
such  a  man  as  you  are.  Good-bye." 


CHAPTER  III. 

It  is  said,  "There  are  two  sides  to  every  question." 
In  my  association  with  men  in  the  free  States  I  had 
learned  one  side  of  this  question  ;  now  I  was  learning 
the  other  side,  and  began  to  be  able  to  put  in  intelli- 
gible shape  to  myself  those  reasonings  by  which  these 
men  justified  their  action.  They  reasoned  thus :  '  'War 
is  a  state  of  violence  and  always  involves  a  trenching 
upon  what  we  call  natural  rights ;  and  its  decisions  de- 
pend not  so  much  on  who  is  right  or  wrong,  as  on  who 
wields  the  longest  sword  and  commands  the  heaviest  bat- 
talions. And  if  in  carrying  on  a  war  some  evil  comes  to 
innocent  parties,  this  is  only  one  of  its  necessary  con- 
sequences, and  is  justified  by  the  final  result;  provided 
always  that  the  war,  as  a  whole,  is  right  and  just. 
And  in  such  a  strained  and  unnatural  condition  of 
affairs  men  can  not  be  governed  by  the  same  scrupu- 
lous regard  for  others'  rights  by  which  they  are  gov- 
erned in  time  of  peace.  But  the  North  and  South  are 
already  practically  in  a  state  of  war.  This  comes  of 
the  mistakes  made  at  the  formation  of  our  government. 
Thomas  Jefferson  and  the  fathers  of  the  Revolution 
were  mistaken  in  holding  slavery  wrong.  It  is  a  right- 
ful and  natural  relation,  as  between  an  inferior  and 
superior  race.  The  black  race  is  far  better  off  here  in 
America,  in  slavery,  than  they  would  be  in  Africa,  in 
freedom  and  in  paganism ;  and  if  there  is  something 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  4$ 

of  hardship  in  their  lot,  it  is  only  because  there  is 
hardship  in  the  lot  of  every  human  being." 

These  men  also  said:  "  Consequent  on  these  erro- 
neous views  held  by  Thomas  Jefferson  and  others,  the 
settlement  made  as  between  the  North  and  South  has 
been  wrong,  from  the  beginning,  It  was  wrong  to 
close  the  Northwest  Territory,  embracing  Indiana, 
Illinois,  Michigan,  and  Wisconsin,  against  slavery.  So 
also  it  was  wrong  to  close  Kansas  against  this  institu- 
tion by  what  was  called  the  Missouri  Compromise  Line, 
agreed  upon  on  the  admission  of  Missouri  into  the 
Union." 

So  these  men  reasoned,  and  they  said  :  "  Now  we 
propose  to  go  and  take  by  the  strong  hand  those  rights 
of  which  we  have  been  wrongfully  deprived  since  the 
beginning  of  the  American  Government.  A  little 
severity  now — a  resolute  seizing  on  our  rights  now,  in 
this  golden  opportunity — will  be  worth  more  than  the 
shedding  of  rivers  of  blood  by  and  by.  Therefore 
the  primary  and  rudimental  legislation  of  this  infant 
Territory  will  be  worth  everything  to  us  in  the  final 
settlement  of  this  question.  It  is  certain  that  the  law 
is  against  us ;  but  the  law  itself  is  wrong,  and  has  been 
wrong  from  the  beginning.  The  right  that  belongs  to 
us  is  the  material  and  inalienable  right  of  revolution." 

We  have  no  right  to  assume  that  a  majority  of  the 
people  of  Missouri  held  the  sentiments  we  have  here 
indicated :  probably  they  did  not.  But  the  dissent 
was  generally  unspoken.  The  men  of  this  stamp 
commonly  adopted  the  policy  of  the  man  with  whom 
I  had  just  parted.  But  there  was  dissent  in  some 
cases,  bitter  and  vehement,  followed  sometimes  by 
bloodshed. 


44  PERSONAL     RECOLLECTIONS. 

Before  I  had  gone  to  Iowa,  and  while  I  yet  lived  in 
Ohio,  I  had  visited  Kentucky.  An  Ohio  colony  had 
gone  down  into  Kentucky  and  located  in  the  counties 
of  Wayne  and  Pulaski,  on  the  Cumberland  River.  A 
brother  of  mine  had  gone  with  them,  and  I  had  made 
him  a  visit.  I  thought  then,  and  think  now,  that  there 
is  no  region  on  which  the  sun  shines,  more  desirable 
to  live  in  than  the  region  of  the  Cumberland  Moun- 
tains. At  Crab  Orchard  I  found  a  man  that  was  born 
in  the  State  of  New  York.  He  had  been  a  soldier  at 
Hull's  surrender,  at  Detroit,  in  the  war  of  1812,  with 
Great  Britain.  From  Detroit  he  had  made  his  way 
into  Kentucky,  had  married  a  rich  wife  with  many 
slaves,  and  had  become  a  vehement  partisan  for  slav- 
ery. But  because  he  was  born  in  the  same  State  with 
myself,  and  because  I  could  tell  him  much  about  that 
people  that  were  once  his  people,  he  was  glad  to  have 
me  stop  with  him.  Being  old  and  choleric,  he  would 
go  off  into  a  fierce  passion  against  the  abolitionists. 
He  would  say:  "These  men  are  thieves!  Our  nig- 
gers are  our  property,  and  they  steal  our  property. 
They  might  as  well  steal  our  horses."  After  awhile 
he  would  begin  to  talk  about  his  children.  He  would 
say:  "These  niggers  are  ruining  my  children !  My 
girls  are  good  for  nothing  !  They  can  not  help  them- 
selves !  They  are  so  helpless  they  can  not  even  pick 
up  a  needle.  And  my  boys !  These  niggers  are 
ruining  my  boys!  My  boys  won't  work!"  And 
then  he  would  go  on  to  tell  the  nameless  vices  the 
young  men  of  the  city  were  drawn  into  through  their 
intimacy  with  the  blacks.  I  thought,  but  did  not  say, 
"My  dear  sir,  if  slavery  is  working  such  a  ruin  on 
your  own  children,  would  not  the  abolitionists  be  doing 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  45 

you  a  kindness  if  they  would  steal  every  nigger  you 
have  got?" 

But  there  was  a  still  graver  aspect  that  this  ques- 
tion was  beginning  to  assume:  A  woman  that  is  a 
slave  has  neither  the  motive  nor  the  power  to  protect 
her  own  virtue;  and  the  land  was  threatened  to  be 
filled  with  a  nation  of  mulattoes.  But  this  mixed  race 
would  possess  all  the  pride,  ambition  and  talent  of  the 
superior  race ;  at  the  same  time  they  would  feel  all 
that  undying  hatred  that  a  subject  people  feel  toward 
the  men  by  whom  they  are  subjugated.  We  would 
then  be  sleeping  on  a  volcano,  such  as  may  at  any 
hour  engulf  the  empire  of  Russia. 

All  this  I  pondered  in  my  heart  as  I  slowly  made 
my  way  toward  St.  Joseph,  on  the  Missouri  River, 
which  flows  along  the  western  border  of  Kansas.  And 
now  this  question  was  coming  to  the  front  and  forcing 
a  settlement,  and  in  Kansas  would  be  the  first  real  con- 
flict. In  Congress  they  had  only  paltried  with  it; 
now  the  people  were  to  try  their  hand.  And  what 
should  I  do  ?  Had  I  any  right  as  a  Christian  and  as 
an  American  citizen,  when  providentially  called  to  this 
work,  to  withdraw  myself  from  aiding  in  its  settle- 
ment ?  And  should  I  turn  my  horse  in  the  opposite 
direction,  go  back  to  my  Bro.  Graves  at  Chillicothe, 
and  say  to  him :  "  You  are  a  man  of  undoubted  cour- 
age, but  I  am  a  paltroon  and  a  coward,  and  I  am  going 
to  hunt  a  hole  and  hide  myself,  where  I  will  be  out  of 
danger  when  this  battle  is  fought  between  freedom  and 
slavery." 

I  did  not  turn  back,  but  revolving  all  these  matters 
in  my  mind,  reached  the  city  of  St.  Joseph.  Here  I 
had  been  commended  by  a  friend  to  a  merchant  in  the 


46  PERSONAL     RECOLLECTIONS. 

city,  a  member  of  the  Christian  Church.  He  received 
me  kindly  and  treated  me  courteously,  but  his  partner 
in  business  did  not  seem  to  be  of  that  mind.  He  was 
all  out  of  sorts,  and  gruffly  said,  "  Kansas  is  a  hum- 
bug. It  will  not  be  settled  in  thirty  years. " 

In  revolutions  men  live  fast.  I  had  been  ten  days 
on  my  journey,  and  the  man  that  now  crossed  the 
Missouri  River  at  St.  Joseph  was  not  just  the  man  that 
ten  days  before  crossed  the  Mississippi  at  Quincy. 
He  was  a  wiser  and  a  sadder  man. 

On  the  Kansas  side  the  first  company  I  met  was  a 
two-horse  wagon  load  of  men  that  had  been  exploring 
the  Territory  and  were  returning.  They  seemed  thor- 
oughly disgusted,  and  said:  "The  wind  blows  so  hard 
in  Kansas,  it  would  blow  a  chicken  up  against  the  side 
of  a  barn  and  hold  it  there  for  twenty-four  hours. " 

"Kansas  will  not  be  settled  in  thirty  years."  So 
said  my  not  very  amiable  friend  in  St.  Joseph.  It  is 
now  somewhat  more  than  thirty  years,  and  Kansas  has 
more  than  a  million  of  inhabitants.  But  the  State  has 
a  higher  boast  to  make  than  that  it  has  so  increased  in 
wealth  and  population.  It  has  been  the  first  State  in 
the  Union— indeed,  it  has  been  the  first  government 
in  the  world— to  incorporate  prohibition  into  its  fun- 
damental law ;  and  this  is  the  best  possible  criticism 
by  which  to  mark  its  comparative  progress  in  a  Chris- 
tian civilization. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

After  crossing  the  Missouri  River  I  visited  some  of 
the  principal  settlements  in  the  Territory,  such  as  At- 
chison,  Leaven  worth,  Lawrence  and  Topeka.  Law- 
rence, Topeka  and  Manhattan  were  settlements  made 
by  men  from  free  States,  and  with  an  eye  single  to 
making  Kansas  a  free  State.  There  was  no  town 
located  on  the  Missouri  River,  and  no  settlement  made 
in  the  counties  bordering  on  the  Missouri  River,  that 
were  properly  free  State  settlements.  I  thought  this 
was  a  mistake.  These  counties  had  by  far  the  largest 
population,  and  as  these  counties  would  go,  the  Terri- 
tory would  go ;  and  I  thought  that  no  considerations 
of  personal  danger  ought  to  hinder,  that  these  coun- 
ties should  have  respectable  settlements  of  avowed 
Free  State  men  among  them. 

What  is  now  the  city  of  Atchison  was  then  a  small 
village  that  was  being  built  among  the  cottonwood 
trees  on  the  banks  of  the  Missouri  River,  about  twenty 
miles  below  St.  Joseph,  and  the  same  distance  above 
Fort  Leavenworth.  It  had  been  named  after  the 
notable  David  R.  Atchison,  who  had  been  a  Senator 
from  Missouri,  and  acting  Vice-President  of  the  United 
States.  D.  R.  Atchison  and  Gen.  B.  F.  Stringfellow 
had  at  this  time  won  a  national  notoriety  in  this  strug- 
gle now  going  on  in  Kansas ;  and  both  were  leading 
members  in  the  Atchison  town  company.  Dr.  String- 


48  PERSONAL     RECOLLECTIONS. 

fellow  was  deputed  to  act  as  editor-in-chief  of  the 
Squatter  Sovereign,  a  paper  at  that  time  started  in  Atchi- 
son ;  but  the  editor  was  Robert  S.  Kelly.  Bob  Kelly, 
as  he  was  popularly  called,  was  a  born  leader  among 
such  a  population  as  at  that  time  filled  Western  Mis- 
souri. The  towns  along  the  Missouri  River  were  the 
outfitting  points  for  that  immense  overland  freighting 
business,  that  was  at  that  time  carried  on  across  the 
western  plains,  to  Santa  Fe  in  Mexico  and  to  Salt 
Lake,  Oregon  and  California ;  and  here  congregated  a 
multitude  of  that  wild,  lawless,  law-defying  and  law- 
breaking  mob  of  men,  that  accompanied  these  expedi- 
tions, and  were  the  habitues  of  these  western  plains, 
or  were  among  the  gold  seekers  of  California. 

Bob  Kelly  was  left  an  orphan  at  an  early  age,  and 
was  from  his  youth  surrounded  with  such  a  population. 
In  person  he  was  handsome  as  an  Apollo,  broad- 
shouldered  and  muscular,  with  fair  complexion  and 
blue  eyes,  and  was  the  natural  chief  of  the  dangerous 
men  that  were  drawn  to  him  by  his  personal  magnet- 
ism. Moreover,  he  possessed  so  much  native  elo- 
quence, and  such  an  ability  to  make  passionate  appeals, 
as  made  him  a  fit  person  to  fire  the  hearts  of  these 
men  to  deeds  of  violence. 

I  obtained  a  claim  to  160  acres  of  land,  twelve 
miles  from  Atchison,  and  on  the  banks  of  the  Stranger 
Creek.  This  claim  I  would  be  at  liberty  to  buy,  at 
government  price,  if  I  should  continue  to  live  on  it 
until  it  should  come  into  market.  My  nearest  neigh- 
bor was  Caleb  May,  a  Disciple,  and  a  squatter,  from 
the  other  side  of  the  river.  Bro.  May  was  in  his  way 
as  much  a  character  as  Bob  Kelly.  He  gloried,  like 
John  Randolph,  of  Roanoke,  in  being  descended  from 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  49 

Pocahontas,  and  that  he  therefore  had  Indian  blood 
in  his  veins.  Born  and  reared  on  the  frontier,  tall, 
muscular,  and  raw-boned,  an  utter  stranger  to  fear,  a 
dead  shot  with  pistol  or  rifle,  cool  and  self-possessed 
in  danger,  he  had  become  known  far  and  near  as  a 
desperate  and  dangerous  man  when  meddled  with. 
But  he  had  been  converted,  and  had  become  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Christian  Church,  and  according  to  the 
light  that  was  in  him  he  did  his  best  to  conform  his 
life  to  the  maxims  of  the  New  Testament,  and  con- 
scientiously sought  to  confine  all  exhibition  of  "  phys- 
ical force"  to  such  occasions  as  those  in  which  he 
might  be  compelled  to  defend  himself.  Then  it  was 
not  likely  to  be  a  healthy  business  for,  his  antagonist. 

After  securing  my  claim,  and^commencing  to  build 
a  cabin,  I  began  to  look  around  me.  Fully  three- 
fourths  of  the  squatters  of  this  whole  region  were 
from  the  border  counties  of  Missouri.  But  in  West- 
ern Missouri  the  percentage  of  Disciples  was  perhaps 
larger  than  in  any  other  portion  of  the  United  States, 
consequently  I  had  brethren  on  every  side  of  me. 
These  men  certainly  were  not  refined  and  educated 
men,  as  the  phrase  goes,  still  they  had  the  qualities 
that  our  Lord  found  in  the  fisherman  of  Galilee. 

One  thought  was  in  every  man's  heart,  and  on 
every  man's  tongue.  The  name  Squatter  Sovereign, 
that  had  been  given  to  the  Atchison  newspaper,  indi- 
cated the  trend  of  public  opinion.  They  had  been 
flattered  with  the  idea  that  if  they  would  come  to 
Kansas  they  should -be  "  Squatter  Sovereigns,"  that 
the  domestic  institutions  of  the  infant  Territory  should 
be  determined  not  by  the  nation,  nor  by  Congress,  but 
by  themselves.  And  yet,  when  the  election  day  came, 


5O  PERSONAL     RECOLLECTIONS. 

every  election  precinct  in  the  Territory,  except  one, 
was  taken  possession  of  by  bodies  of  men  from  Mis- 
souri, and  the  elections  had  been  carried,  not  by  bona 
fide  citizens,  but  by  an  outside  invasion.  With  pain 
and  shame,  and  bitter  resentment,  my  neighbors  told 
me  how  they  had  driven  their  wagons  to  the  place  of 
voting,  on  the  prairie,  and  hitched  their  horses  to  their 
wagons,  and  were  quietly  going  about  their  business, 
when  with  a  great  whoop  and  hurrah,  which  frightened 
their  horses  and  made  them  break  loose  from  their 
wagons,  a  company  of  men  came  in  sight,  and  with 
swagger  and  bluster,  took  possession  of  the  polls,  and 
proceeded  to  do  the  voting.  Meantime  whisky  flowed 
like  water,  and  the  men,  far  gone  in  liquor,  turned  the 
place  into  a  bedlam.  In  utter  humiliation  and  disgust 
many  of  the  squatters  went  home.  Caleb  May  did 
not  get  into  the  neighborhood  till  afternoon.  Before 
he  got  to  the  place  of  voting,  he  met  Joseph  Potter, 
and  on  hearing  what  was  done  he  threw  his  hat  on  the 
ground,  and  in  a  towering  rage  protested  he  would  no 
longer  vote  with  a  party  that  would  treat  the  peo- 
ple of  the  Territory  in  such  a  way  as  that.  This  was 
done  in  March,  but  so  far  as  any  public  expression  of 
sentiment  was  concerned,  the  people  seemed  dumb. 
No  public  meeting  was  called  in  the  way  of  protest 
till  the  next  September,  and  that  meeting  was  held  at 
Big  Springs,  sixty  miles  from  Atchison. 

But  if  there  was  no  public  protest,  there  was 
plenty  of  it  in  private.  The  men  from  the  State  of 
Missouri  grew  sick  at  heart.  It  was  a  deep,  unspoken, 
bitter  and  shame- faced  feeling,  for  it  was  their  old 
neighbors  that  had  done  this. 

I  often  asked  myself,  Can  it  be  hoped  that  an  elec- 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  $1 

tion  can  be  held  that  shall  fairly  express  the  real  senti. 
ment  of  the  people,  if  they  allow  themselves  to  be 
held  down  under  such  a  reign  of  terror  ? 

The  prevalent  sentiment  of  the  squatters  from  Mis- 
souri was,  ' '  We  will  make  Kansas  a  free  white  State  ; 
we  will  admit  no  negroes  into  it."  These  men  re- 
garded the  negro  as  an  enemy  to  themselves.  They 
said:  "We  were  born  to  the  lowly  lot  of  toil,  and 
the  negro  has  made  labor  a  disgrace.  Neither  our- 
selves nor  our  children  have  had  opportunity  for  edu- 
cation, and  the  negro  is  the  cause  of  it.  Moreover, 
an  aristocracy  at  the  South  has  assumed  control  of 
public  affairs,  and  the  negro  is  the  cause  of  that. 
Now  we  propose  to  make  Kansas  a  free  white  State, 
and  shut  out  the  negro,  who  has  been  the  cause  of  all 
our  calamities." 

There  was,  however,  a  class  of  men  among  them 
that  had  pity  for  the  negro.  I  will  repeat  one  story, 
as  it  was  told  me  by  Bro.  Silas  Kirkham.  Bro.  Kirk- 
ham  belongs  to  that  family  of  Kirkhams  so  well 
known  to  our  brethren  in  Southeastern  Iowa.  Bro. 
Kirkham  was  raised  in  a  slave  State.  He  said : 
1 '  When  I  was  a  boy  I  had  never  thought  of  slavery 
as  being  wrong.  There  was  a  black  boy  in  the  settle- 
ment named  Jim.  Jim  was  so  good-natured,  faithful 
and  well-behaved  that  we  all  liked  him.  Jim  married 
a  black  girl  and  they  had  twins— boys — bright,  likely 
little  fellows,  and  Jim's  wife  and  twin  babies  were  all 
the  treasure  he  had  in  the  world. 

Bro.  Kirkham  said  :  "  One  day  I  found  Jim  in  the 
woods,  where  he  had  been  sent  to  split  rails.  He  was 
sitting  down  with  his  face  buried  in  his  hands,  appar- 
ently asleep.  I  thought  I  would  crawl  slyly  up  to 


52  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

him,  and  spring  suddenly  on  him,  and  frighten  him. 
I  did  so,  but  Jim  was  not  asleep  at  all,  but  lifted  up 
his  head  with  such  a  look  of  unutterable  woe  that  I 
was  frightened  myself,  and  said:  "  Why,  Jim,  what 
is  the  matter?"  Jim  cried  out:  "O,  my  boys!  my 
boys  !  Massa  sold  my  boys !" 

Bro.  Kirkham  said :  "I  have  vowed  everlasting 
enmity  to  an  institution  that  will  legalize  such  treat- 
ment of  a  human  being." 

But  while  these  ominous  mutterings  were  heard  in 
so  many  of  the  Kansas  squatter  cabins,  little  did  the 
high  and  mighty  Atchison  Town  Company,  or  the 
editorial  staff  of  the  Squatter  Sovereign^  or  the  puissant 
Territorial  Legislature,  reck  that  so  soon  they  must 
take  up  the  sad  refain  of  Cardinal  Woolsey : 

Farewell,  a  long  farewell,  to  all  my  greatness  ! 
This  is  the  state  of  man :  To-day  he  puts  forth 
The  tender  leaves  of  hope,  to-morrow  blossoms, 
And  bears  his  blushing  honors  thick  upon  him  ; 
The  third  day  comes  a  frost,  a  killing  frost, 
And — when  he  thinks,  good  easy  man,  full  surely 
His  greatness  is  a-ripening — nips  his  root ; 
And  then  he  falls,  as  I  do. 

The  following  extract,  from  an  editorial  that  ap- 
peared at  this  time  in  the  Squatter  Sovereign,  will 
show  what  a  rose-colored  view  these  gentlemen  took 
of  the  situation : 

SLAVERY   IN    KANSAS. 

We  receive  letters,  by  nearly  every  mail,  asking  our  opinion  as 
regards  the  security  of  slave  property  in  Kansas  Territory.  We  can 
truly  say  that  no  Territory  in  Uncle  Sam's  dominion  can  be  found  where 
the  slave  can  be  made  more  secure,  or  his  work  command  a  higher 
price.  Our  slave  population  is  gradually  increasing  by  the  arrival  of 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  53 

emigrants  and  settlers  from  the  slave  States,  who,  having  an  eye  to 
making  a  fortune,  have  wisely  concluded  to  secure  a  farm  in  Kansas, 
and  stock  it  well  with  valuable  slaves.  Situated  as  Missouri  is,  being 
surrounded  by  free  States,  we  would  advise  the  removal  of  negroes  from 
the  frontier  counties  to  Kansas,  where  they  will  be  comparatively 
safe.  Abolitionists  too  well  know  the  character  of  the  Kansas  squatter 
to  attempt  to  carry  out  the  nefarious  schemes  of  the  underground  rail- 
road companies. 


CHAPTER  V. 

Immediately  on  obtaining  my  claim,  brethren  had 
sought  me  out  and  made  my  acquaintance,  and  soon  it 
appeared  that  there  were  enough  Disciples  in  the  settle- 
ment to  constitute  a  church.  But  the  times  were 
stormy,  and  we  delayed  making  any  movement  in  that 
direction.  It  had  now  come  to  be  the  month  of  June. 
There  had  been  refreshing  showers.  The  singing  birds 
had  come,  and  the  bright  sunshine.  The  prairie  had 
put  on  its  royal  robes,  the  forest  its  richest  garments, 
and  the  people  had  become  impatient  with  their  long 
isolation  from  religious  meetings.  The  Lord's  day  was 
almost  ceasing  to  be  the  Lord's  day  to  them,  and  they 
demanded  a  sermon.  We,  therefore,  came  together  in 
the  timbered  bottoms  of  Caleb  May's  claim,  on  the  banks 
of  the  Stranger  Creek.  The  gathering  was  primitive 
and  peculiar,  like  the  gathering  at  a  Western  camp- 
meeting — footmen,  and  men  and  women  on  horseback, 
and  whole  families  in  two-horse  lumber  wagons.  Some 
were  dressed  in  Kentucky-jeans,  and  some  in  broad- 
cloth;  there  were  smooth-shaven  men  and  bearded 
men  ;  there  were  hats  and  bonnets  of  every  form  and 
fashion  ;  all  were  dressed  in  such  ways  as  best  suited  their 
convenience  or  necessities.  In  this  crowd  were  those 
that,  as  the  years  should  go  by,  were  destined  to  grow 
in  wealth,  in  understanding,  in  popularity  and  high  posi- 
tion, and  they  should  be  known  as  the  first  in  the  land. 


PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS.  55 

The  singing  was  not  in  the  highest  style  of  the 
musical  art,  but  it  was  hearty  and  sincere. 

Looking  up  at  the  thick  branches  of  the  spreading 
elms  above  our  heads  I  said : 

MY  FRIENDS  AND  FELLOW  CITIZENS:— I  have  never  seen  trees 
clothed  with  leaves  of  so  rich  a  green  as  the  trees  above  our  heads.  I 
have  never  seen  prairies  robed  in  richer  verdure  than  the  prairies 
around  us. 

Since  the  year  of  1832,  it  has  been  known  that  what  is  called  the 
"  Platte  Purchase,"  in  Missouri,  is  the  garden  spot  of  the  West ;  and  now  it 
is  apparent  that  we  have  here  on  the  west  side  of  the  Missouri  River  what 
is  the  exact  counterpart  of  the  Platte  Purchase  on  the  east  side.  It  is 
the  same  in  genial  suns,  refreshing  rains,  and  unequalled  fertility  of  soil. 
It  is,  moreover,  true  that,  owing  to  the  peculiar  circumstances  under 
which  this  Territory  will  be  settled  we  shall  have  a  population  inferior 
to  no  population  on  the  face  of  the  earth. 

After  the  deluge  was  past,  God  promised  enlargement  to  the  sons 
of  Japheth.  "  God  shall  enlarge  Japheth,  and  he  shall  dwell  in  the 
tents  of  Shem ;"  and  more  than  3,000  years  the  sons  of  Japheth  have 
been  fulfilling  their  destiny.  They  came  originally  from  the  mountain 
regions  around  Mount  Ararat,  and  moving  westward,  they  have  filled 
all  Europe ;  and  these  tribes  coming  from  the  east  have  created  the 
modern  European  nations.  The  last  and  westernmost  settlement  was  made 
on  the  island  of  Great  Britain,  and  here  they  were  stopped  from  further 
progress  by  the  Atlantic  Ocean ;  and  here,  after  many  generations  of 
war,  they  coalesced  and  mingled  their  blood  together,  and  thus  became 
the  British  nation  ;  and  thus  out  of  the  commingling  of  the  blood  of 
the  most  enterprising  races  that  came  out  of  the  loins  of  Japheth  has 
grown  that  nation,  that  in  all  lands  has  vindicated  its  right  to  be  known 
as  the  foremost  nation  of  the  world. 

Christopher  Columbus  discovered  America,  and  now  new  causes 
began  to  operate  that  called  for  the  planting  of  new  colonies  here  in 
America.  Martin  Luther  asserted  the  right  of  a  man  to  stand  immedi- 
ately in  the  presence  of  the  Lord,  to  be  answerable  directly  to  the 
Lord,  and  to  confess  his  sins  to  the  Lord  alone,  and  from  the  Lord  to 
receive  pardon,  without  the  intervention  of  any  pope,  priest,  or  ghostly 
mediator.  This  was  counted  by  the  Catholic  Church  a  horrible  blas- 
phemy, and  the  Diet  of  Worms  was  called,  and  Luther  was  commanded 
to  appear  before  it  and  recant.  Presiding  over  this  Diet  was  Charles 


56  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

V.,  Emperor  of  Germany;  here  were  Electors,  Princes  and  crowned 
heads,  popish  priests,  bishops  and  cardinals,  together  with  the  principal 
nobility  of  Catholic  Europe — these  all  came  together  to  compel  the  re- 
cantation of  Friar  Martin  Luther.  But  Luther  said  :  "  Unless  I  be  con- 
vinced by  Scripture  and  reason,  I  neither  can  nor  dare  retract  anything 
for  my  conscience  is  a  captive  to  God's  Word,  and  it  is  neither  safe  nor 
right  to  go  against  conscience,"  and  a  great  multitude  of  men  in  Ger. 
many,  France,  Switzerland,  and  Great  Britain  stood  beside  Luther  and 
protested  that  they  were  amenable  to  the  Lord  alone,  and  that  they 
could  do  nothing  against  conscience.  But  these  Protestant  governments 
stopped  midway  between  popery  and  Protestantism;  for  each  of  these 
nations,  while  renouncing  the  Pope  of  Rome,  assumed  that  it  was  the 
business  of  the  king  to  instruct  the  people  what  to  believe  ;  and  so  in- 
stead of  having  one  pope  they  had  many  popes,  consequently  many 
Protestant  sects ;  and  these  took  the  place  of  that  one  apostolic  church 
originally  established  by  the  apostles.  Notwithstanding,  there  were 
some  in  all  lands  that  remained  steadfast  to  the  principle  enunciated  by 
Martin  Luther :  "  Unless  I  be  convinced  by  Scripture  and  reason,  I 
neither  can  nor  dare  retract  ";  and  so  it  came  to  pass  that  there  were 
Protestant  persecutions  as  well  as  Catholic  persecutions ;  and  so  also  it  came 
to  pass  that  men  became  wearied  with  this  intolerance,  and  determined  to 
seek  beyond  the  Atlantic  Ocean  a  place  where  they  could  worship  God  ac- 
cording to  the  dictates  of  their  own  consciences,  with  none  to  molest  them 
or  make  them  afraid.  It  was  for  such  cause  that  the  Puritans  settled  in  New 
England,  the  Quakers  in  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania,  the  Scotch  and 
Irish  Presbyterians  in  North  Carolina  ;  and  it  was  for  this  cause  that  the 
French  Huguenots,  driven  out  of  France  by  the  French  king,  came  to 
South  Carolina.  The  most  notable  cause  that  induced  the  planting  of 
the  thirteen  original  colonies  here  in  North  America  was  religious 
persecution  in  the  Old  World.  And  as  the  oak  grows  out  of  the 
acorn,  so  out  of  these  colonies  has  grown  this  nation  of  which  we  are  so 
proud. 

Great  Britain  became  more  Lutheran  than  Germany,  the  native  land 
of  Luther,  and  God  lifted  the  British  nation  up  to  become  the  chiefest 
nation  of  the  world  ;  the  United  States  of  North  America  became  more 
Lutheran  than  Great  Britain,  and  the  eyes  of  the  \vorld  are  fixed  on 
us  in  admiration  and  astonishment.  God  blessed  the  house  of  Obed- 
edom,  and  all  that  he  had,  because  the  ark  of  God  was  in  it. 

But  there  are  spots  on  the  sun,  and  there  are  exceeding  blemishes 
in  our  Protestantism,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  glory  of  the 
American  people  has  grown  out  of  it.  The  image  that  Nebuchadnezzar 


PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS.  57 

saw  in  his  dream  had  feet  and  toes,  part  of  iron  and  part  of  potter's 
clay,  partly  strong  and  partly  broken.  So  it  is  with  our  Protestant  sec- 
tarianism, and  because  of  it  we  are  partly  strong  and  partly  broken. 
Compare  the  Protestant  United  States  with  Catholic  Mexico,  or  com- 
pare Protestant  Great  Britain  with  Catholic  Spain,  and  compared  with 
these  nations  we  have  the  strength  of  iron,  but  judged  by  our  secta 
rianism  we  have  the  weakness  of  miry  clay. 

My  friends  and  fellow  citizens,  I  have  the  honor  to  represent  to  you 
a  people  that  have  said  we  will  go  back  to  that  order  of  things  origi- 
nally established  by  Jesus  and  the  apostles — we  will  make  no  vow  of 
loyalty  to  any  but  Jesus,  and  we  will  have  no  bond  of  union  save  the 
testimonies  and  commandments  of  the  Lord  as  given  to  us  by  the  Lord 
himself  and  the  holy  apostles.  Out  of  this  we  hope  may  grow  such  a 
union  of  God's  people  as  Jesus  prayed  for  when  he  prayed  that  all  Chris- 
tians might  be  one.  We  are  striving  for  such  an  order  of  things  that 
Protestants  may  present  a  united  front  against  the  world,  the  flesh  and 
the  devil,  and  against  all  disloyalty  to  Jesus. 

To  this  appeal  men  often  make  reply:  "We  can  not  break  loose 
from  our  religious  surroundings,  dear  to  us  through  life-long  and  most 
tender  associations."  But,  my  friends,  this  objection  can  have  no 
weight  with  this  audience,  assembled  here  on  this  glorious  Lord's  day, 
and  on  this  our  first  religious  meeting.  Here  we  have  already  broken 
loose  from  these  associations.  These  ties,  how  dear  so  ever  to  us,  we 
have  already  sundered.  The  people  with  whom  we  once  met,  and  with 
whom  we  once  took  sweet  counsel,  the  churches  in  which  we  once  wor- 
shiped, shall  know  us  no  more  forever.  Here  we  are  free  to  act,  and  to 
correct  the  mistakes  that  have  been  unwittingly  made  by  the  churches 
with  which  we  have  formerly  been  connected,  just  as  our  American 
fathers  were  free  to  frame  a  better  government  than  the  government  of 
the  nations  out  of  which  they  came. 

May  I  not  appeal  to  you,  my  friends,  and  say  you  owe  it  to  your- 
selves, you  owe  it  to  Christians  in  every  land,  you  owe  it  to  your  Lord, 
you  owe  it  to  the  future  State  of  Kansas,  to  so  act  as  to  free  the  Chris- 
tian profession  from  the  trammels  that  have  hindered  its  progress  and 
glory  ever  since  the  days  when  our  divisions  began.  If  Protestantism 
has  done  so  much  in  spite  of  all  its  divisions,  what  will  it  not  do  if 
these  hindrances  are  taken  out  of  the  way  ? 

Kansas  is  certainly  predestinated  to  be  a  great  State.  The  fertility 
of  its  soil,  the  healthfulness  of  its  atmosphere,  and  the  fact  that  its  pop- 
ulation is  to  be  made  up  from  the  bravest,  most  daring  and  most  enter- 
prising men  in  the  nation,  all  look  in  this  direction ;  you  ought,  then, 


58  PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS. 

my  friends,  to  see  to  it  that  as  far  as  your  influence  may  go  its  religion 
shall  be  nothing  less  than  primitive  and  apostolic  Christianity. 

In  ascertaining  what  is  primitive  and  apostolic  Christianity,  we 
shall  pay  supreme  respect  to  the  time  when  the  old  or  Jewish  dispensa- 
tion came  to  an  end,  and  when  the  new  or  Christian  dispensation  be- 
gan. The  first,  or  Jewish  dispensation,  Jesus  took  out  of  the  way,  nail- 
ing it  to  the  cross.  The  second,  or  Christian  dispensation,  began  after 
Jesus  arose  from  the  dead  and  ascended  up  on  high,  far  above  the 
thrones,  dominions,  principalities  and  powers  of  the  world  of  light, 
and  became  the  Head  over  all  things  to  the  church.  This  was  the  prop- 
osition with  which  Peter  closed  his  sermon  on  the  day  of  Pentecost: 
"Therefore  let  all  the  house  of  Israel  know  assuredly,  that  God  hath 
made  that  same  Jesus,  whom  ye  have  crucified,  both  Lord  and  Christ.'' 
To  this  agree  the  words  of  Jesus  after  his  resurrection,  as  recorded  in 
the  close  of  Matthew's  gospel :  "All  authority  is  given  to  me  in  heaven 
and  in  earth.  Go  ye,  therefore,  and  disciple  all  nations,  baptizing  them 
into  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Spirit." 

Luke  records  some  things  which  Matthew  does  not  record:  "Thus 
it  is  written,  and  thus  it  behooved  the  Messiah  to  suffer,  and  to  rise  from 
the  dead  the  third  day :  and  that  repentance  and  remission  of  sins  might 
be  preached  in  his  name  among  all  nations,  beginning  at  Jerusalem; 
and  ye  are  witnesses  of  these  things."  But  Mark  records  some  things 
that  neither  Matthew  nor  Luke  have  recorded :  "  Go  ye  into  all  the 
world  and  preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature.  He  that  believeth  and 
is  baptized  shall  be  saved  ;  but  he  that  believeth  not  shall  be  damned." 
In  carrying  out  this  commission,  thus  recorded  by  these  three  evangel- 
ists, if  we  find  an  ignorant  pagan  that  knows  nothing  of  Jesus  we  shall 
say  to  him,  as  Paul  said  to  the  Philippian  jailer,  ignorant  pagan  that  he 
was:  "Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  thou  shall  be  saved  and 
thy  house." 

But  if  we  find  men  who  already  believe,  as  did  the  three  thousand 
who  were  pierced  in  the  heart  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  we  shall  say  to 
them,  as  Peter  did:  "Repent  and  be  baptized  every  one  of  you  in  the 
name  of  Jesus  Christ  for  remission  of  sins,  and  you  shall  receive  the 
gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit."  If,  however,  we  find  a  man  that  not  only  be- 
lieves, but  is  a  penitent  believer,  such  as  Saul  of  Tarsus  was  when  Ana- 
nias found  him,  we  shall  say,  as  Ananias  said  :  "And  now  why  tarriest 
thou  ?  Arise  and  be  baptized,  and  wash  away  thy  sins,  calling  on  the 
name  of  the  Lord." 

In  all  this  there  is  nothing  human,  nothing  schismatical.  All  can 
accept  it  who  are  willing  to  accept  the  Word  of  the  Lord.  In  the  bap- 


PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS.  $9 

tism  we  administer,  we  will  give  no  cause  for  schism :  it  shall  be  a 
burial,  and  this,  so  far  as  the  action  of  baptism  is  concerned,  will  meet 
the  conscience  of  the  Greek  Church,  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  and 
of  all  Protestant  churches. 

Do  not,  my  friends,  attempt  to  turn  aside  this  appeal  which  I  now 
make  to  you  with  a  laugh  or  a  sneer.  This  is  the  Lord's  word,  and  the 
word  of  the  Lord  is  not  to  be  put  aside  with  a  sneer.  Do  not  scoff  at 
this  as  a  water  of  salvation.  You  certainly  will  not  scoff  at  the  word 
of  the  Lord. 

And  now,  my  friends,  will  you  not  demean  yourselves  worthy  of 
the  high  place  that  God  has  given  you  ?  Adam  and  Eve  carried  in 
their  hands  the  weal  or  woe  of  the  unnumbered  millions  of  their  chil- 
dren that  should  come  after  them.  Abraham,  because  of  his  great  faith 
and  because  of  his  high  integrity,  sent  down  a  blessing  upon  his  fleshly 
seed  for  fifty  generations ;  and  for  the  same  cause  was  constituted  the  spir- 
itual father  of  a  spiritual  seed  as  numerous  as  the  stars  of  heaven  or  as 
the  sand  upon  the  seashore.  A  few  Galileean  fishermen  have  filled  the 
world  with  the  glory  of  the  Lord.  Luther  drove  back  the  darkness  of 
the  dark  ages  and  has  filled  the  world  with  the  light  of  God's  Word. 
And  now,  my  friends,  you  are  laying  the  foundations  of  many  genera- 
tions, and  will  you  not  take  heed  how  these  foundations  are  laid  ?  Can 
you  repent  if  you  take  God  at  his  word  and  do  as  did  the  apostles  and 
the  primitive  Christians? 


CHAPTER  VI. 

That  sermon  was  preached  almost  thirty-three 
years  ago.  It  was  an  extemporaneous  discourse,. and 
no  notes  were  preserved.  Nevertheless,  there  were 
circumstances  attending  its  delivery,  that  have  indel- 
ibly impressed  its  leading  points  on  the  memory  of  the 
writer. 

S.  J.  H.  Snyder  was  a  Lutheran  from  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  at  that  time  was  a  resident  of  Atchisqn 
county.  He  had  traveled  to  see  the  world,  and  was 
a  writer  of  books.  He  heard  the  sermon,  and  was 
greatly  taken  with  it.  He  wrote  out  a  report  of  it, 
and  handed  his  report  to  me  for  criticism  and  correc- 
tion. He  intended  to  send  it  for  publication  to  a 
paper  in  Pennsylvania.  I  said  to  him  that  his  report 
left  out  the  most  essential  and  vital  part  of  the  sermon, 
and  proposed  myself  to  write  out  an  abstract  of  it  for 
his  use.  This  I  did,  but  my  friend  Mr.  Snyder  con- 
cluded :  "This  is  a  hard  saying,  who  can  hear  it  ?"  He 
was  not  willing  to  be  counted  unsound  in  the  faith  by 
his  brethren  in  Pennsylvania,  and  forwarded  the  origi- 
nal manuscript. 

There  were  also  in  the  audience  two  young  gentle- 
men, recently  come  from  the  New  England  States  to 
seek  their  fortune.  They  were  just  of  that  age  to 
think  that  what  they  did  not  know,  or  at  least  what 

the  people  of  New  England  did  not  know,  was  not 
60 


PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS.  6 1 

worth  knowing.  Such  a  meeting  in  the  open  air ; 
such  an  audience,  in  which  the  dress  of  every  man 
and  woman  was  got  up  according  to  their  own  nbtions, 
and  that,  too,  without  consulting  Mrs.  Grundy ;  such 
a  preacher!  and  such  a  sermon!  Certainly  these  all 
were  new  to  them,  and  did  not  command  their  highest 
admiration.  These  young  gentlemen  kept  up  a  sort  of 
running  commentary  between  themselves,  on  what 
they  saw  going  on,  until,  becoming  tired  of  their  mis- 
behavior, I  turned  and  said  to  them  in  effect :  ' '  Young 
gentlemen,  you  profess  to  be  men  of  good  breeding, 
and  it  is  understood  that  well-bred  people  will  behave 
themselves  in  meeting."  They  were  very  angry,  and 
one  of  them  wrote  me  a  saucy  letter  about  it.  But 
finding  little  sympathy  in  the  settlement,  they  went  to 
Atchison,  and  there  they  found  abundant  sympathy 
and  open  ears  to  hear.  A  man  who  was  a  preacher, 
and  a  pronounced  free  State  man,  had  come  from  Illi- 
nois and  had  settled  on  the  Stranger  Creek ;  and  who 
could  tell  the  mischief  he  might  do  to  his  brethren 
who  were  squatters  from  Missouri  ?  When  these  same 
New  England  gentlemen  were  in  their  turn  stripped 
of  all  they  were  worth  by  the  "Border  Ruffians  "it 
changed  their  feelings  toward  their  free  State  brethren 
"mightily." 

And  now -that  feeling  of  dissatisfaction  that  had 
been  all  along  festering  in  the  hearts  of  the  people, 
began  to  come  to  the  surface.  An  inside  view  would 
have  revealed  a  perpetual  murmur  of  discontent.  The 
Territorial  Legislature  was  now  in  session,  and  doing 
its  work,  and  copies  of  the  laws  they  had  enacted  were 
coming  into  circulation.  No  legislature  in  America 
had  ever  been  elected  as  they  had  been,  and  we  have  al- 


62  PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS. 

ready  learned  what  a  thrill  of  horror  and  pain  this 
caused  in  the  hearts  of  the  squatters.  It  would  have 
been  a  dictate  of  the  most  obvious  common  sense  that 
a  body  of  men  whose  claim  to  be  a  Territorial  Legis- 
lature rested  on  such  a  basis  should  proceed  with  the 
utmost  moderation.  But  they  were  intoxicated  with 
success.  It  is  an  old  and  a  wise  saw,  that  whom  the 
gods  wish  to  destroy  they  first  deprive  of  their  reason, 
and  these  men  were  smitten  with  judicial  blindness. 
No  slave  State  had  ever  enacted  such  savage  and 
bloody  laws — laws  of  such  barbarous  and  inhuman 
severity,  for  the  protection  of  slave  property.  And 
now  the  people  were  reading  copies  of  these  laws,  and 
nothing  could  long  suppress  the  evidences  of  discon- 
tent. The  following  editorial  is  also  copied  from  the 
Squatter  Sovereign : 

WATCH   THE  ABOLITIONISTS. 

Circumstances  have  transpired  within  a  few  weeks  past,  in  this 
neigborhood,  which  place  beyond  a  doubt  the  existence  of  an  organ- 
ized band  of  Abolitionists  in  our  midst.  We  counsel  our  friends  who 
have  slave  property  to  keep  a  sharp  lookout,  lest  their  valuable  slaves 
may  be  induced  to  commit  acts  which  might  jeopardize  their  lives. 

Mr.  Grafton  Thomasson  lost  a  valuable  negro  a  week  ago,  and  we 
have  not  the  least  doubt  that  she  was  persuaded  by  one  of  this  lawless 
gang  to  destroy  herself  rather  than  remain  in  slavery.  In  fact,  one  of 
this  gang  was  heard  to  remark  that  she  did  perfectly  right  in  drowning 
herself,  and  just  what  he  would  have  done,  or  what  every  negro  who  is 
held  in  bondage  should  do.  We  ask,  Shall  a  man  expressing  such  senti- 
ments be  permitted  to  reside  in  our  midst?  Be  permitted  to  run  at 
large  among  our  slaves,  sowing  the  seeds  of  discord  and  discontent, 
jeopardizing  our  lives  and  property  ? 

In  another  instance  we  hear  of  a  servant  being  tampered  with,  and 
induced  to  believe  that  she  was  illegally  held  in  bondage ;  since  which 
time  she  has  been  unruly,  and  shows  evidence  of  discontent.  Such  is 
the  effect  produced  by  permitting  the  convicts  and  criminals  of  the  East- 
ern cities  shipped  out  here  by  the  aid  societies  to  reside  in  our  midst. 


PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS.  63 

The  depredations  of  this  fanatical  sect  do  not  stop  here.  Their 
crimes  are  more  numerous  and  their  acts  more  bold.  It  is  well  known 
that  on  Independence  and  Walnut  Creeks,  within  a  few  miles  of  this 
place,  a  great  number  of  free  slaves  and  Abolitionists  are  settled  whose 
thieving  propensities  are  well  known.  We  honestly  believe  that  an  or- 
ganized band  of  these  outlaws  exists,  whose  objects  are  pecuniary  gain 
and  spite,  to  rob  us  of  our  property,  drive  off  our  cattle  and  horses,  in- 
cite our  slaves  to  rebellion,  and,  when  opportunity  afford  them  facilities 
for  escaping,  to  aid  them. 

Within  a  short  time  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  head  of  cattle 
have  been  stolen  from  this  neighborhood,  driven  off,  and  sold.  Eight 
or  nine  horses  and  several  mules  have  been  taken  out  of  the  emigrants' 
camp,  driven  to  parts  unknown,  and  the  money  is  now  jingling  in  the 
pockets  of  the  Abolitionists.  Occurrences  of  this  kind  were  never  be- 
fore known  in  this  neighborhood,  and  prior  to  the  shipment  of  the  filth 
and  scum  of  the  Eastern  cities  our  property  was  secure  and  our  slaves 
were  contented  and  happy. 

The  enormity  of  these  offenses,  and  the  great  loss  of  property, 
should  open  the  eyes  of  our  citizens  to  their  true  situation.  We  can  not 
feel  safe  while  the  air  of  Kansas  is  polluted  with  the  breath  of  a  single 
Free-soiler.  We  are  not  safe,  and  self-preservation  requires  the  total 
extermination  of  this  set.  Let  us  act  immediately,  and  with  such  de- 
cision as  will  convince  these  deperadoes  that  it  is  our  fixed  determination 
to  keep  their  feet  from  polluting  the  soil  of  Kansas. 

We  published  in  a  former  chapter  the  letter  of  rec- 
ommendation this  same  Robert  S.  Kelley  had  written, 
certifying  to  the  good  behavior  of  the  people  of  the 
county,  and  the  facts  of  the  case  were  not  altered  now  ; 
save  and  only  this,  that  a  black  woman,  the  slave  of 
Grafton  Thomasson,  had  drowned  herself.  This  said 
Thomasson  was  a  drinking  man,  and  when  in  drink 
was  desperate  and  dangerous.  What  passed  between 
this  man,  when  intoxicated,  and  this  slave  woman  the 
public  have  never  been  informed.  An  altercation  grew 
out  of  this  between  Thomasson  and  J.  W.  B.  Kelly, 
Esq.,  a  young  lawyer  from  Cincinnati,  in  which 
Thomasson,  a  great  big  bully,  flogged  Kelly,  who  was 


64  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

a  small  man,  of  slender  build,  and  weak  in  body.  A 
public  meeting  was  called,  in  which  resolutions  were 
adopted  praising  this  big  bully  for  flogging  this  weak 
and  helpless  man ;  and  then  this  Kelly  was  ordered  to 
leave,  and  was  not  seen  in  Kansas  afterwards.  Be- 
yond this,  if  there  was  any  of  this  high-handed  steal- 
ing and  robbery  we  never  heard  anything  of  it  after- 
wards. 

During  the  month  of  July,  an  event  occurred  des- 
tined to  have  lasting  influence  on  the  Christian  cause 
in  Northeastern  Kansas.  A  church  was  organized  at 
Mt.  Pleasant.  It  is  now  known  as  the  Round  Prairie 
Church.  This  church,  after  passing  through  varied 
fortunes,  has  finally  issued  in  being  one  of  the  best 
and  most  active  churches  in  Kansas.  The  last  act  in 
his  public  ministry  was  the  organizing  of  this  church 
by  Elder  Duke  Young,  father  of  Judge  William 
Young.  Duke  Young  was  one  of  the  pioneer  preach- 
ers of  Western  Missouri.  When  in  his  manhood's 
prime  he  was  abundant  in  labors,  and  though  he  was 
without  any  scholastic  attainments  he  had  a  keen 
mother  wit,  good  sense,  and  good  natural  gifts  as  a 
public  speaker;  and,  working  in  poverty,  exposure, 
hardship,  misrepresentation,  and  implacable  oppositi- 
tion,  he  was  one  of  the  men  that  laid  the  foundations 
of  the  cause  in  Western  Missouri.  Becoming  old,  he 
came  with  his  son,  William  Young,  to  Kansas,  and 
after  organizing  the  church  at  Mt.  Pleasant,  he  failed 
in  health,  and  ceased  his  work  in  the  ministry. 

Connected  with  this  church  was  Numeris  Humber. 
Bro.  Humber  and  his  wife  were  among  the  excellent 
of  the  earth.  Sister  Humber  was  a  matronly  woman, 
comely  in  person,  greatly  beloved,  and  a  queen  of 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  6$ 

song.  When  D.  S.  Burnett  afterwards  held  a  pro- 
tracted meeting  at  this  place,  it  was  the  songs  of  Sister 
H umber  and  Stephen  Sales,  as  much  as  the  preaching 
of  D.  S.  Burnett,  that  made  the  meeting  a  wonderful  suc- 
cess, and  one  long  to  be  remembered.  Bro.  Hurnber  and 
Bro.  Young  were  slave-holders.  Bro.  Humber  was  also  an 
emancipationist  in  his  views  of  slave-holding,  and  often 
said  that  if  a  position  could  be  secured  suitable  for 
emancipated  slaves  he  would  gladly  set  his  slaves  free. 
When  at  last  they  were  made  free  by  the  results  of 
the  war,  and  went  to  Leavenworth  to  live,  it  was  al- 
ways a  burden  on  Bro.  Humber's  heart  to  watch  over 
them,  and  try  and  save  them  from  the  temptations 
that  were  laid  for  their  feet  in  that  wicked  city. 

It  will  be  readily  seen  that  no  scandal  would  be 
created  in  Atchison  by  organizing  a  church  at  Mt. 
Pleasant  with  such  men  to  take  the  lead  in  it. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

It  was  now  the  middle  of  August.  My  cabin  was 
completed,  and  I  was  ready  to  go  back  and  bring  Mrs. 
Butler  and  the  children  to  Kansas.  Bro.  Elliott  ac- 
companied me  to  Atchison,  where  I  intended  to  take 
a  steamboat  to  St.  Louis,  thence  going  up  the  Illinois 
River  to  Fulton  county,  Illinois,  where  Mrs.  Butler 
had  been  stopping  with  her  sister. 

The  things  that  had  been  happening  in  the  Terri- 
tory had  been  so  strange  and  unheard  of,  and  the 
threats  of  the  Squatter  Sovereign  had  been  so  savage 
and  barbarous,  that  I  wanted  to  carry  back  to  my 
friends  in  Illinois  some  evidence  of  what  was  going  on. 
I  went,  therefore,  with  Bro.  Elliott  to  the  Squatter  Sov- 
ereign printing  office  to  purchase  extra  copies  of  that 
paper.  I  was  waited  on  by  Robert  S.  Kelley.  After 
paying  for  my  papers  I  said  to  him  :  "I  should  have 
become  a  subscriber  to  your  paper  some  time  ago  only 
there  is  one  thing  I  do  not  like  about  it."  Mr.  Kelley 
did  not  know  me,  and  asked  :  "  What  is  it  ?" 

I  replied :  "I  do  not  like  the  spirit  of  violence  that 
characterizes  it." 

He  said  :  "  1  consider  all  Free-soilers  rogues,  and 
they  are  to  be  treated  as  such." 

I  looked  him  for  a  moment  steadily  in  the  face, 
and  then  said  to  him  :  ' '  Well,  sir,  I  am  a  Free-soiler ; 
and  I  intend  to  vote  for  Kansas  to  be  a  free  State," 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  6/ 

He  fiercely  replied :  '  *  You  will  not  be  allowed  to 
vote." 

When  Bro.  Elliott  and  myself  had  left  the  house, 
and  were  in  the  open  air,  he  clutched  me  nervously  by 
the  arm  and  said :  ' '  Bro.  Butler !  Bro.  Butler !  You 
must  not  do  such  things  ;  they  will  kill  you !" 

I  replied :    "  If  they  do  I  can  not  help  it." 

Bro.  E.  was  now  to  go  home.  But  before  going 
he  besought  me  with  earnest  entreaty  not  to  bring 
down  on  my  own  head  the  vengeance  of  these  men. 
I  thanked  him  for  his  regard  for  me,  and  we  bade  each 
other  good-by. 

Bro.  E.  had  come  to  feel  that  my  life  was  precious 
to  the  Christian  brethren  in  Atchison  county.  Except 
myself  they  had  no  preacher,  and  they  needed  a 
preacher. 

The  steamboat  bound  for  St.  Louis  that  day  had 
been  detained,  and  would  not  arrive  until  the  next 
day.  I  must,  therefore,  stay  over  night  in  Atchison. 
I  conversed  freely  with  the  people  that  afternoon,  and 
said  to  them :  ' '  Under  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill,  we 
that  are  free  State  men  have  as  good  a  right  to  come  to 
Kansas  as  you  have ;  and  we  have  as  good  a  right  to 
speak  our  sentiments  as  you  have." 

A  public  meeting  was  called  that  night  to  consider 
my  case,  but  I  did  not  know  it.  The  steamboat  was 
expected  about  noon  the  next  day.  I  had  been  sitting- 
writing  letters  at  the  head  of  the  stairs,  in  the  chamber 
of  the  boarding-house  where  I  had  slept,  and  heard 
some  one  call  my  name,  and  rose  up  to  go  down  stairs  ; 
but  was  met  by  six  men,  bristling  with  revolvers  and 
bowie-knives,  who  came  up  stairs  and  into  my  room. 
The  leader  was  Robert  S.  Kelley.  They  presented 


68  PERSONAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

me  a  string  of  resolutions,  denouncing  free  State  men 
in  unmeasured  terms,  and  demanded  that  I  should  sign 
them.  I  felt  my  heart  flutter,  and  knew  if  I  should 
undertake  to  speak  my  voice  would  tremble,  and  de- 
termined to  gain  time.  Sitting  down  I  pretended  to 
read  the  resolutions — they  were  familiar  to  me,  having 
been  already  printed  in  the  Squatter  Sovereign — and 
finally  I  began  to  read  them  aloud.  But  these  men 
were  impatient,  and  said:  "We  just  want  to  know 
will  you  sign  these  resolutions?"  I  had  taken  my  seat 
by  a  window,  and  looking  out  and  down  into  the  street, 
had  seen  a  great  crowd  assembled,  and  determined  to 
get  among  them.  Whatever  should  be  done  would 
better  be  done  in  the  presence  of  witnesses.  I  said 
not  a  word,  but  going  to  the  head  of  the  stairs,  where 
was  my  writing-stand  and  pen  and  ink,  I  laid  the  paper 
down  and  quickly  walked  down  stairs  and  into  the 
street.  Here  they  caught  me  by  the  wrists,  from  be- 
hind, and  demanded,  "Will  you  sign?"  I  answered, 
"  No,"  with  emphasis.  I  had  got  my  voice  by  that 
time.  They  dragged  me  down  to  the  Missouri  River, 
cursing  me,  and  telling  me  they  were  going  to  drown 
me.  But  v/hen  we  had  got  to  the  river  they  seemed 
to  have  got  to  the  end  of  their  programme,  and  there 
we  stood.  Then  some  little  boys,  anxious  to  see  the 
fun  go  on,  told  me  to  get  on  a  large  cotton-wood 
stump  close  by  and  defend  myself.  I  told  the  little 
fellows  I  did  not  know  what  I  was  accused  of  yet. 
This  broke  the  silence,  and  the  men  that  had  me  in 
charge  asked : 

"Did  the  Emigrant  Aid  Society  send  you  here?" 
' '  No ;    I  have  no  connection   with   the  Emigrant 
Aid  Society  " 


PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS.  69 

"  Well,  what  did  you  come  for?" 

"  I  came  because  I  had  a  mind  to  come.  What  did 
you  come  for  ?" 

"  Did  you  come  to  make  Kansas  a  free  State?" 

4 'No,  not  primarily;  but  I  shall  vote  to  make 
Kansas  a  free  State. " 

"Are  you  a  correspondent  of  the  New  York  Tri- 
bune?" 

"  No  ;  I  have  not  written  a  line  to  the  Tribune  since 
I  came  to  Kansas." 

By  this  time  a  great  crowd  had  gathered  around, 
and  each  man  took  his  turn  in  cross-questioning  me, 
while  I  replied,  as  best  I  could,  to  this  storm  of  ques- 
tions, accusations  and  invectives.  We  went  over  the 
whole  ground.  We  debated  every  issue  that  had  been 
debated  in  Congress.  They  alleged  the  joint  owner- 
ship the  South  had  with  the  North  in  the  common 
Territories  of  the  nation ;  that  slaves  are  property,  and 
that  they  had  a  natural  and  inalienable  right  to  take 
their  property  into  any  part  of  the  national  Territor}^, 
and  there  to  protect  it  by  the  strong  right  arm  of  power, 
while  I  urged  the  terms  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill,* 
and  that  under  it  free  State  men  have  a  right  to  come 
into  the  Territory,  and  by  their  votes  to  make  it  a 
free  State,  if  their  votes  will  make  it  so. 

At  length  an  old  man  came  near  to  me,  and  drop- 
ping his  voice  to  a  half-whisper,  said  in  a  confidential 
tone:  "N-e-ow,  Mr.  Butler,  I  want  to  advise  you  as 
a  friend,  and  for  your  own  good,  when  you  get  aivay, 
just  keep  away" 

I  knew  this  man  was  a  Yankee,  for  I  am  a  Yankee 
myself.  His  name  was  Ira  Norris.  He  had  been 
given  an  office  in  Platte  county,  Mo.,  and  must  needs 


7O  PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS. 

be  a  partisan  for  the  peculiar  institution.  I  gave  my 
friend  Norris  to  understand  that  I  would  try  to  attend 
to  my  own  business. 

Others  sought  to  persuade  me  to  promise  to  leave 
the  country  and  not  come  back.  Then  when  no  good 
result  seemed  to  come  from  our  talk,  I  said  to  them : 
' '  Gentlemen,  there  is  no  use  in  keeping  up  this  de- 
bate any  longer ;  if  I  live  anywhere,  I  shall  live  in 
Kansas.  Now  do  your  duty  as  you  understand  it,  and  I 
will  do  mine  as  I  understand  it.  I  ask  no  favors  of  you. " 

Then  the  leaders  of  this  business  went  away  by 
themselves  and  held  a  consultation.  Of  course  I  did 
not  know  what  passed  among  them,  but  Dr.  String- 
fellow  afterwards  made  the  following  statement  to  a 
gentleman  who  was  getting  up  a  history  of  Kansas: 

A  vote  was  taken  upon  the  mode  of  punishment  which  ought  to  be 
accorded  to  him,  and  to  this  day  it  is  probably  known  but  to  few  per- 
sons that  a  decided  verdict  of  death  by  hanging  was  rendered;  and 
furthermore,  that  Mr.  Kelley,  the  teller,  by  making  false  returns  to  the 
excited  mob,  saved  Mr.  Butler's  life.  Mr.  Kelley  is  now  a  resident  of 
Montana,  and  volunteered  this  information  several  years  ago,  while  stop- 
ping at  St.  Joe  with  the  former  senior  editor  of  the  Sqiiatter  Sovereign, 
Dr.  J.  H.  Stringfellow.  At  the  time  the  pro-slavery  party  decided  to 
send  Mr.  Butler  down  the  Missouri  River  on  a  raft,  Dr.  Stringfellow 
was  absent  as  a  member  of  the  Territorial  Legislature. 

The  crowd  had  now  to  be  pacified  and  won  over  to 
an  arrangement  that  should  give  me  a  chance  for  my 
life.  A  Mr.  Peebles,  a  dentist  from  Lexington,  Mo., 
who  was  working  at  the  business  of  dentistry  in  At- 
chison,  and  himself  a  slave-holder,  was  put  forward  to 
do  this  work.  He  said  :  ' '  My  friends,  we  must  not 
hang  this  man ;  he  is  not  an  Abolitionist,  he  is  what 
they  call  a  Free-soiler.  The  Abolitionists  steal  our 
niggers,  but  the  Free-soilers  do  not  do  this.  They  in- 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  Jl 

tend  to  make  Kansas  a  free  State  by  legal  methods. 
But  in  the  outcome  of  the  business,  there  is  not  the 
value  of  a  picayune  of  difference  between  a  Free-soiler 
and  an  Abolitionist ;  for  if  the  Free-soilers  succeed  in 
making  Kansas  a  free  State,  and  thus  surround  Mis- 
souri with  a  cordon  of  free  States,  our  slaves  in  Mis- 
souri will  not  be  worth  a  dime  apiece.  Still  we  must 
not  hang  this  man  ;  and  I  propose  that  we  make  a  raft 
and  send  him  down  the  river  as  an  example." 

And  so  to  him  they  all  agreed.  Then  the  question 
came  up,  What  kind  of  a  raft  shall  it  be?*  Some 
said,  "  One  log  "  ;  but  the  crowd  decided  it  should  be 
two  logs  fastened  together.  When  the  raft  was  com- 
pleted I  was  ordered  to  take  my  place  on  it,  after  they 
had  painted  the  letter  R.  on  my  forehead  with  black 
paint.  This  letter  stood  for  Rogue.  I  had  in  my 
pocket  a  purse  of  gold,  which  I  proffered  to  a  mer- 
chant of  the  place,  an  upright  business  man,  with  the 
request  that  he  would  send  it  to  my  wife ;  but  he  de- 
clined to  take  it.  He  afterwards  explained  to  me  that 
he  himself  was  afraid  of  the  mob.  They  took  a  skiff 
and  towed  the  raft  out  into  the  middle  of  the  Mis- 


*  When  they  were  making  the  raft  father  noticed  that  one  of  the  logs  was 
sound  and  the  other  rotten.  They  fastened  them  together  by  nailing  shakes- 
split  shingles — from  one  to  the  other.  Some  one  remarked  that  the  nails  would 
pull  out  the  first  time  the  raft  struck  a  snag.  Then  they  said  they  would  drive 
in  long  wooden  pins.  But  father  noticed  that  the  long  pins  were  driven  into  the 
sound  log,  while  the  ends  on  the  rotten  log  were  only  fastened  by  the  nails. 

One  of  the  logs  of  which  the.  raft  was  made  was  much  longer  than  the 
other,  and  on  the  end  of  the  longer  log  they  put  the  flag.  And  over  the  rough 
swift  current  father  walked  the  dizzy  length  of  that  single  log  and  took  down  the 
flag.  Mother  still  keeps  that  flag  as  a  precious  relic.  Several  years  ago  one  of 
the  men  engaged  in  that  mob  ran  for  office  in  Northern  Kansas.  His  opponent 
borrowed  the  flag,  to  use  in  the  campaign,  and  returned  it  in  good  order.  But 
we  have  since  learned  that  he  had  several  copies  of  it  painted,  and  that  one  of 
them  is  now  in  the  rooms  of  the  Kansas  Historical  Society,  in  the  showcase  with 
John  Brown's  cap,  and  is  shown  as  the  veritable  flag  that  was  on  Pardee  Butler's 
raft. 


72  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

souri  River.  As  we  swung  away  from  the  bank,  I 
rose  up  and  said :  * '  Gentlemen,  if  I  am  drowned  I 
forgive  you  ;  but  I  have  this  to  say  to  you :  If  you  are 
not  ashamed  of  your  part  in  this  transaction,  I  am  not 
ashamed  of  mine.  Good-by." 

Floating  down  the  river,  alone  and  helpless,  I  had 
opportunity  to  look  about  me.  I  had  noticed  that 
they  had  put  up  a  flag  on  my  raft,  but  had  paid  no  at- 
tention to  it;  now  I  looked  at  it  and  it  charged  me 
with  stealing  negroes ;  and  it  was  thought  by  many  to 
be  no  sin  to  shoot  a  "  nigger  thief."  Down  that  flag 
must  come  ;  and  then  I  remembered  that  they  had 
said  they  would  follow  me  down  the  river  and  shoot 
me  if  I  did  pull  it  down.  The  picture  on  the  flag  was 
that  of  a  white  man  riding  at  full  gallop,  on  horseback, 
with  a  negro  behind  him.  The  flag  bore  this  inscription : 
' '  GREELEY  TO  THE  RESCUE  :  I  HAVE  A  NIGGER.  THE  REV. 
MR.  BUTLER,  AGENT  FOR  THE  UNDERGROUND  RAILROAD." 

This  flag  I  pulled  down,  cut  off  the  flag  with  my 
pen-knife,  and  made  a  paddle  of  the  flag  staff,  which 
was  a  small  sapling  which  they  had  cut  out  of  the 
brush,  and  was  forked  at  the  upper  end.  Between 
these  forks  they  had  carefully  sewed  this  flag  with 
twine,  and  this  part  of  the  canvas  I  left  and  made  it 
serve  as  the  blade  of  my  paddle ;  and  so  in  due  time 
I  paddled  to  the  Kansas  shore.  The  river  was  rapid, 
and  there  were  in  the  river  heaps  of  drift-wood,  called 
"  rack-heaps, "  dangerous  places  into  which  the  water 
rushed  with  great  violence ;  but  from  these  I  was 
mercifully  saved,  and  though  I  could  not  swim,  I 
landed  a  few  miles  below  Atchison  without  harm  or 
accident,  and  made  my  way  to  Port  William,  a  small 
town  about  twelve  miles  down  the  river. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

A  t  Port  William  I  had  already  become  acquainted 
with  a  Bro.  Hartman.  He  had  leased  a  saw-mill,  and 
was  running  it,  and  I  had  bought  lumber  of  him. 
Having  reached  Port  William,  I  went  to  Bro.  H.  and 
said,  ' '  I  want  to  obtain  lodging  of  you  to-night ;  but 
as  I  do  not  want  to  betray  any  man  into  trouble,  I 
must  first  tell  you  what  has  befallen  me."  I  then  told 
him  my  mishap  at  Atchison,  and  said:  "  Now  if  you 
do  not  want  to  lodge  such  a  man,  please  say  so,  and  I 
will  go  somewhere  else."  He  replied:  "You  shall 
lodge  with  me  if  it  cost  me  every  cent  I  am  worth." 
He  then  went  on  to  say  that  he  had  leased  that  mill  of 
men  who  were  very  bitter,  and  very  ultra  in  their 
views,  and  that  they  might  be  angry  with  him,  and 
turn  him  out  of  the  mill.  But  at  last  he  said:  "There 
is  Bro.  Oliphant  living  in  the  bluffs ;  he  is  under  no 
such  embarrassment,"  and  Bro.  Hartman  took  me 
there.  The  next  day  was  the  Lord's  day,  and  Oliver 
Steele  was  to  preach  the  first  sermon  in  that  little  vil- 
lage on  that  day.  Oliver  Steele  was  a  notable  citizen 
of  Platte  county,  Missouri.  His  name  appears  in  the 
early  days  of  the  Millennial  Harbinger  as  a  citizen  of 
Madison  county,  Kentucky.  Bro.  Steele  complains  of 
the  Reformers  of  Kentucky,  that  they  are  too  much 
wedded  to  Old  Baptist  usages  to  be  true  to  the  primi- 
tive and  apostolic  order  of  things.  Then  Bro.  Steele 

73 


74  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

came  to  Platte  county,  Missouri,  and  had  become  one 
of  its  most  wealthy  and  influential  citizens.  He  was 
an  eminent  example  of  a  courtly  and  courteous  "  Old 
Virginia  gentleman,"  and  was  loved  by  the  rich  and 
loved  by  the  poor ,  he  was  loved  by  white  folks  and 
black ;  loved  by  the  mothers  and  their  babies ;  and  the 
people  patronized  his  preaching,  not  because  he  was  a 
great  preacher,  for  he  certainly  was  not,  but  because 
they  loved  the  man.  He  was  an  old  Henry  Clay 
Whig,  and  like  that  great  Kentucky  statesman  was  an 
Emancipationist.  Bro.  S.  was  to  come  over  the  river 
and  preach  the  first  sermon  in  this  new  town,  and  it 
was  a  great  event  to  the  people.  On  returning  to  Port 
William  in  the  morning  Bro.  Hartman  said  that  I  must 
take  dinner  with  him,  and  he  would  introduce  me  to 
Bro.  Steele.  It  was  not  until  twenty-five  years  after- 
wards, and  only  after  Sister  Hartman  had  died,  that 
Bro.  Hartman  told  me  what  so  much  altered  his  feel- 
ings. She  was  a  sweet  Christian  woman,  and  when 
Bro.  H.  went  to  her  she  said  to  him:  "Husband, 
do  n't  you  know  that  in  the  last  great  day  the  Lord 
will  say,  'I  was  a  stranger  and  ye  took  me  in';  and 
do  n't  you  remember  how  the  good  Samaritan  showed 
mercy  to  the  man  that  fell  among  thieves  ?  Now  we 
believe  that  this  man  is  an  innocent  man;  and  what 
will  the  Lord  say  to  us  if  we  turn  him  out  of  doors?" 
At  dinner,  at  the  house  of  Bro.  Hartman,  was  also 
Dr.  Oliphant,  father  of  the  Bro.  Oliphant  with 
whom  I  had  lodged.  He  was  a  brusque,  blunt- 
spoken,  honest,  anti-slavery  Northern  Methodist 
preacher.  He  said  bluntly  at  the  table:  "Well, 
Mr.  Butler,  they  treated  you  rather  roughly  at  At- 
Atchison,  did  they  not?"  I  said,  "Yes — "  attempted 


PERSONAL   RECOLLECTOINS.  75 

to  say  more,  broke  down  and  left  the  table,  and  went 
out  of  the  house.  My  heart  was  not  as  hard  here, 
among  sympathizing  friends,  as  it  had  been  the  day 
before,  when  I  had  to  face  a  raging  mob.  When  I  re- 
turned no  mother  could  be  more  tender  seeking  out 
the  hurt  of  her  boy  bruised  in  a  rough  encounter  with 
his  fellows,  than  was  Oliver  Steele.  He  would  hear 
the  whole  story,  sighed  over  these  "evil  days,"  and 
listened  with  approval  to  the  vindication  I  made  of  the 
purposes  of  the  free  State  men.  How  many  men  that, 
through  a  sense  of  bitter  wrong,  are  in  danger  to  be- 
come desperate,  could  be  won  to  a  better  temper  the 
world  has  never  fully  tried. 

The  news  of  what  had  been  done  at  Atchison  flew 
like  wild-fire  through  the  country.  This  proved  the 
last  feather  that  broke  the  camel's  back.  It  became 
apparent  that  the  country  was  full  of  men  that  were 
ready  to  fight.  As  for  my  friend  Caleb  May,  he  went 
into  Atchison  and  said  :  "  I  am  a  free  State  man\  now 
raft  me!"  As  no  one  seemed  inclined  to  undertake 
that  job,  he  faithfully  promised  them  that  if  there  was 
any  more  of  that  business  done  he  would  go  over  into 
Missouri  and  raise  a  company  of  men  and  clean  out 
the  town. 

Meantime  my  friends  at  Port  William  provided 
means  to  send  me  down  to  Weston,  there  to  take  the 
steamboat  Polar  Star,  bound  for  St.  Louis.  "Boycotting  " 
was  a  word  unknown  to  the  English  language  at  that 
time  ;  and  yet  I  was  "  boycotted  "  on  board  the  steam- 
boat. I  heard  nothing — not  a  word ;  and  yet  I  could 
feel  it.  I  had  hoped  to  be  a  total  stranger,  but  it  was 
evident  I  was  not,  and  the  most  comfort  I  could  find 
was  to  keep  my  state-room,  and  employ  my  time  writ 


76  PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS. 

ing  out  the  appeal  I  intended  to  make  to  the  people, 
through  the  Missouri  Democrat,  published  in  St.  Louis. 
At  length  my  work  was  done,  and  yet  we  were  only 
half  way  to  St.  Louis.  The  reader  will  believe  that 
my  reflections  were  not  cheerful.  What  would  be- 
come of  myself?"  What  would  become  of  my  wife 
and  children  ?  What  would  become  of  Kansas,  or  of 
the  United  States? 

At  Jefferson  City  a  man  had  come  aboard  of  the 
boat  who  seemed  almost  as  much  alone  as  myself. 
Still  the  captain  and  officers  of  the  boat  paid  him 
marked  attention.  One  thing  I  noticed,  he  abounded 
in  newspapers,  and  I  wanted  something  to  read  that 
should  save  me  from  my  own  reflections.  I  ventured 
to  ask  him  for  the  loan  of  some  of  his  papers ;  then 
when  I  returned  them  he  went  to  his  trunk  and  took 
out  a  book  of  travels  and  gave  it  to  me,  saying :  "  Take 
that,  please.  It  will  amuse  you."  At  length  we  could 
see  the  smoke  of  the  city  of  St.  Louis,  and  I  gave 
back  to  this  stranger  the  book  he  had  loaned  me.  He 
said  :  "  No,  thank  you."  I  was  startled,  and  said  with 
some  surprise  :  "I  do  not  know  why  you  should  do 
this  to  a  stranger."  He  laughed  and  said:  "You  are 
not  so  much  a  stranger  as  you  think.  Your  name  is 
Butler,  is  it  not?" 

"Yes." 

"And  they  mobbed  you  at  Atchison  ?" 

"Yes." 

"Well,  please  call  on  me  at  the  office  of  the  Mis- 
souri Democrat. ' ' 

"And  what  is  your  name?" 

•'  They  call  me  B.  Gtatz  Brown. 

And  so  Providence  had  prepared  the  way  for  mak- 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  77 

ing  my  appeal  to  the  people.  B.  Gratz  Brown  had  the 
preceding  winter,  at  Jefferson  City,  either  given  or  ac- 
cepted a  challenge  to  fight  a  duel ;  but  the  public  au- 
thorities had  interfered,  and  some  .  business  connected 
with  this  matter  had  called  him  to  Jefferson  City.  But 
whei  ce  had  he  his  knowledge  of  the  mobbing  at  At- 
chison?  The  Squatter  Sovereign  had  been  issued  im- 
mediately after  they  had  put  me  on  the  raft,  and  had 
contained  the  following  editorial: 

On  Thursday  last  [it  was  Friday],  one  Pardee  Butler  arrived  in 
town  with  a  view  of  starting  for  the  East,  probably  with  the  purpose  of 
getting  a  fresh  supply  of  Free-soilers  from  the  penitentiaries  and  pest- 
holes in  the  Northern  States.  Finding  it  inconvenient  to  depart  before 
the  morning,  he  took  lodgings  at  the  hotel  and  proceeded  to  visit  nu- 
merous portions  of  our  town,  everywhere  avowing  himself  a  Free-soiler, 
and  preaching  Abolition  heresies.  He  declared  the  recent  action  of 
our  citizens  in  regard  to  J.  W.  B.  Kelley  the  infamous  proceedings  of  a 
mob,  at  the  same  time  stating  that  many  persons  in  Atchison  who  were 
Free-soilers  at  heart  had  been  intimidated  thereby,  and  prevented  from 
avowing  their  true  sentiments ;  but  that  he  (Butler)  would  express  his 
views  in  defiance  of  the  whole  community. 

On  the  ensuing  morning  our  townsmen  assembled  en  masse,  and, 
deeming  the  presence  of  such  a  person  highly  prejudicial  to  the  safety 
of  our  slave  population,  appointed  a  committee  to  wait  on  Mr.  Butler 
and  request  his  signature  to  the  resolutions  passed  at  the  late  pro-slavery 
meeting.  After  perusing  the  resolutions,  Mr.  B.  positively  declined  sign- 
ing them,  and  was  instantly  arrested  by  the  committee. 

After  various  plans  for  his  disposal  had  been  considerd,  it  was 
finally  decided  to  place  him  on  a  raft  composed  of  two  logs  firmly  lashed 
together,  that  his  baggage  and  a  loaf  of  bread  be  given  him,  and  having 
attached  a  flag  to  his  primitive  bark,  Mr.  Butler  was  set  adrift  in  the 
great  Missouri,  with  the  letter  "R"  legibly  painted  on  his  forehead. 

He  was  escorted  some  distance  down  the  river  by  several  of  our 
citizens,  who,  seeing  him  pass  several  rock-heaps  in  quite  a  skillful 
manner,  bade  him  adieu  and  returned  to  Atchison. 

Such  treatment  may  be  expected  by  all  scoundrels  visiting  our  town 
for  the  purpose  of  interfering  with  our  time-honored  institutions,  and 
the  same  punishment  we  will  be  happy  to  award  to  all  Free-soilerg  and 
Abolitionists. 


78  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

The  Missouri  Democrat  was  what  was  known  as  the 
"Tom  Ben  ton "  paper  of  Missouri,  and  was  not 
ostensibly  a  Free-soil  paper,  yet  it  vehemently  in- 
veighed against  the  ruffianism  with  which  free  State 
men  had  been  treated.  Of  course  there  was  sympa- 
thy in  the  office  of  the  Missouri  Democrat,  that  made 
some  amends  for  the  rough  treatment  I  had  got  at  the 
hands  of  citizens  of  Missouri. 

Having  completed  my  business  in  St.  Louis  I  turned 
my  face  toward  my  old  field  of  labor  in  the  "  Military 
Tract,"  via  the  Illinois  River.  The  reader  will  believe 
that  my  reflections  were  full  of  anxieties.  What 
would  the  brethren  say  of  me  ?  Were  my  prospects 
blighted  from  this  time  forward? 


CHAPTER  IX. 

The  brethren  in  Illinois  were  at  the  first  amazed  at 
what  they  heard,  and  did  not  know  what  to  think  or 
say.  Before  they  could  make  up  their  minds,  the  fol- 
lowing editorial  appeared  in  the  Schuyler  County  Demo- 
crat, published  at  Rushville : 

ELDER   PARDEE  BUTLER, 

The  gentleman  who  was  placed  on  a  raft  in  the  Missouri  River,  with  a 
proper  uniform  for  a  Northern  fanatic,  is  in  Rushville.  We  saw  hand- 
bills posted  around  town  stating  that  he  would  hold  a  meeting  in  the 
Christian  Church.  We  are  informed  he  will  deliver  a  series  of  lectures, 
in  which,  of  course,  he  will  give  vent  to  his  indignation  toward  the  peo-, 
pie  of  Kansas,  Judge  Douglas  and  the  Administration.  We  thought 
Schuyler  county  was  the  last  place  which  a  Northern  fanatic  would  visit 
for  sympathy.  We  hope  that  those  that  go  to  hear  his  lectures,  \vhich 
differ  with  him  in  their  sentiments,  will  not  interrupt  him  or  give  him 
any  pretext  by  which  he  could  denounce  our  citizens. 

To  the  above  notice  of  myself  I  made  the  follow- 
ing reply : 

[For  the  Prairie  Telegraph.] 

MESSRS.  EDITORS  :  Sirs—I  find  the  above  notice  of  myself  in  the 
last  issue  of  the  Schuyler  Democrat. 

While  in  Kansas  I  diligently  worked  six  days  of  the  week,  and  on 
Lord's  day  spoke  to  my  neighbors,  not  in  reference  to  affairs  in  Kansas, 
but  in  reference  to  our  common  interest  in  a  better  and  heavenly  coun- 
try. I  do  not  know  that  I  indicated  my  political  proclivities,  in  any 
word  or  allusion,  on  any  such  occasion,  But  I  did,  in  private  conversa- 
tions with  my  neighbors,  avow  my  intention  to  vote  for  Kansas  to  be  a 
free  State,  and  gave  my  reasons  for  so  doing.  This  was  my  only 
offence, 


8O  PERSONAL     RECOLLECTIONS. 

What  must  you  think  of  yourself,  sir,  in  this  notice  you  take  of 
this  transaction  ?  And  you  pretend  to  be  a  conservator  of  public  mor- 
als! If  there  is  in  town  a  clergyman  that  will  consent  to  teach  you  a 
few  lessons  upon  the  items  of  justice  and  gentlemanly  behavior,  I  sug- 
gest it  may  be  to  your  advantage  to  put  yourself  under  his  tuition. 
You  may  perhaps  learn  that  it  is  neither  just  nor  gentlemanly  gratui- 
tously to  insult  a  man,  because  you  have  surmised  that  he  will  show 
some  resentment  at  the  ruffianism  of  a  Kansas  mob,  with  which  you 
seem  to  sympathize. 

Since  I  came  into  Illinois  I  have  steadily  declined  to  make  any 
statement  of  this  affair  in  any  public  address.  Still  it  is  perhaps  due 
to  the  world  to  know  some  additional  facts.  How  the  mob  deliberated 
among  themselves 

I  have  never  yet  made  war  on  Judge  Douglas.  It  is  true  that  the 
Missouri  Compromise,  being  a  time-honored  covenant  of  peace  between 
North  and  South,  I  would  much  rather  it  had  been  suffered  to  remain ; 
but  now  I  am  rather  indignant  at  the  clear  and  palpable  violation  of 
the  principles  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill,  hi  the  attempt  made  by 
border  ruffians  to  drive  out  peaceable  citizens  from,  the  free  States.  I 
am  still  more  indignant  that  a  Northern  editor  can  be  found  to  wink  at 
such  flagrant  and  unquestionable  wrong.  Judge  Douglas  may  well 
exclaim,  "  Save  me  from  my  friends  !" 

Perhaps,  upon  reflection,  you  may  be  convinced  of  three  things  : 
First,  that  I  am  not  a  fanatic,  and  have  not  deserved  the  treatment  I 
have  received ;  second,  that  your  friends  may  be  trusted  not  to  create  any 
disturbance  at  my  meetings  ;  and,  third,  that  instead  of  seeking  to  stir 
up  against  me  the  prejudices  of  ignorant  partisans,  you  may  safely  de- 
vote yourselves  to  the  more  honorable  employment  of  seeking  to  restore 
in  our  unhappy  country  the  supremacy  of  law.  Very  faithfully, 

PARDEE  BUTLER. 
RUSHVILLE,  Sept.  n,  1855. 

The  final  result  was  much  more  favorable  than 
could  have  been  expected,  and  the  brethren  gave  me 
an  invitation  to  remain  with  them  through  the  winter. 

I  tarried  six  weeks  in  Illinois,  and  then  returned  to 
Kansas  with  Mrs.  Butler  and  our  two  children,  of 
whom  the  eldest  is  now  Mrs.  Rosetta  B.  Hastings. 
Milo  Carleton  had  already  reached  the  Territory,  direct 
from  the  Western  Reserve,  Ohio.  He  was  Mrs.  But- 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  8 1 

ler's  brother,  and  it  was  determined  that  the  two  fam- 
ilies should  spend  the  winter  together,  while  I  should 
return  to  Illinois. 

We  will  now  pause  in  our  personal  narrative  and  tell 
what  had  been  going  on  the  preceding  summer  in  other 
parts  of  the  Territory.  A  delegate  convention  had  been 
called  by  the  free  State  men  to  meet  during  the  preceding 
September  at  a  place  called  Big  Springs,  on  the  Santa 
Fe  trail,  midway  between  Lawrence  and  Topeka. 
Here  the  free  State  men  agreed  on  a  plan,  to  which 
they  steadily  adhered  through  all  the  sickening  horrors 
that  gave  to  "bleeding"  Kansas  a  world- wide  and 
thankless  notoriety.  They  resolved  that  they  would 
not  in  any  way,  shape  or  manner,  recognize  the  legal- 
ity of  this  so-called  Territorial  Legislature,  nor  the 
machinery  it  should  call  into  being  for  the  government 
of  the  Territory.  They  would  bring  no  suits  in  its 
courts ;  they  would  attend  no  elections  called  by  its 
authority ;  they  would  pay  no  attention  to  its  county 
organizations  ;  and  yet,  as  far  as  in  them  lay,  they 
would  do  no  act  that  might  make  them  liable  to  the 
penalty  of  its  laws.  In  short,  they  would  be  like  the 
Quaker,  who,  when  drafted  into  the  army,  replies : 
"Thee  must  not  expect  me  to  fight  with  carnal  weap- 
ons ;"  and  when  amerced  in  a  fine  for  non-compliance 
with  the  laws,  makes  the  reply,  '  *  Thee  must  not  ex- 
pect me  to  pay  money  for  such  carnal  uses,  but  thee 
can  take  my  property."  Nevertheless,  there  was  su- 
peradded  to  these  peaceful  resolutions  an  un-Quaker- 
like  intimation  that  under  certain  contingencies  they 
would  fight. 

Beyond  the  Wakarusa,  and  about  eight  miles  from 
Lawrence,  was  a  placed  called  Hickory  point.  Here 


82  PERSONAL     RECOLLECTIONS. 

were  some  timber  claims,  and  here  resided  Jacob  Bran- 
son, a  peaceful  and  harmless  free  State  man.  Beside 
him  lay  a  vacant  timber  claim,  and  he  invited  a  young 
man  named  Dow  to  take  it.  Dow  boarded  with  Bran- 
son. When  the  Missourians  came  into  Kansas  the 
preceding  March,  many  of  them  staked  out  a  claim 
which  they  pretended  to  hold.  One  William  White, 
of  Westport,  Mo. ,  pretended,  in  his  way,  to  hold  this 
claim.  There  was  not  a  particle  of  legality  in  his  pro- 
ceeding. Notwithstanding,  certain  pro-slavery  men, 
among  whom  were  Coleman,  Hargis  and  Buckley,  de- 
termed  to  drive  off  Branson  and  Dow.  They  sent 
threatening  letters  to  Branson,  and  cut  timber  on 
Dow's  claim;  and  this  made  bad  blood.  One  day  an 
altercation  took  place  between  Dow  and  the  above- 
named  pro-slavery  men  at  a  blacksmith  shop,  and  Cole- 
man followed  Dow  and  shot  him.  Dow  was  unarmed, 
and  held  up  his  hands  and  cried,  "  Don't  shoot,"  but 
Coleman  lodged  a  load  of  buckshot  in  his  breast,  and 
he  fell  dead,  and  his  body  lay  in  the  road  till  sundown. 
Then  Branson  came  and  took  up  the  body  and  buried 
it.  This  murder  created  a  prodigious  sensation ;  and 
a  public  meeting  was  called,  at  which  there  was  violent 
and  threatening  talk  by  the  free  State  men.  The 
three  above-named  pro-slavery  men  were  all  present 
when  the  murder  was  committed.  They  fled,  and 
their  dwellings  were  burned.  Coleman  went  to  West- 
port  and  gave  himself  up  to  "  Sheriff  Jones. "  This 
introduces  us  to  the  man  that  was  able  to  achieve  an 
infamous  pre-eminence  among  that  band  of  conspira- 
tors that  put  in  motion  a  train  of  causes  that  issued  in 
the  death  of  half  a  million  of  American  citizens,  and 
which  covered  the  land  with  mourning  from  Maine  to 


PERSONAL     RECOLLECTIONS.  83 

Florida,  and  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  Ocean. 
This  Jones  is  described  by  the  free  State  men  as  a  bully 
and  a  braggart,  as  only  brave  when  he  was  not  in  dan- 
ger, and  as  one  of  the  most  noisy  and  obstreperous  of 
the  pro-slavery  leaders.  Though  living  in  Westport, 
Mo.,  he  was  made  sheriff  of  Douglas  county,  fifty 
miles  from  his  place  of  residence.  Buckley  swore  out 
a  peace  warrant  against  Branson — he  swore  that  his  life 
was  in  danger.  Sheriff  Jones  took  with  him  these 
three  men,  who  were  parties  in  the  murder  of  Dow, 
and  arrested  Branson,  dragging  him  out  of  his  bed  at 
night.  He  had  also  associated  with  himself  eleven 
other  men.  The  news  spread  like  wild-fire  among  the 
free  State  men.  This  Jones  was  supposed  to  be  capa- 
ble of  any  atrocity,  however  horrible,  and  a  company 
of  sixteen  men  was  gathered  up  for  the  rescue  of 
Branson.  Of  this  company  Sam  Wood,  of  Lawrence, 
was  the  leader.  They  met  Jones  and  his  company  at 
Blanton's  Bridge,  on  the  Wakarusa  River,  where  Jones 
was  crossing  to  go  to  Lecompte,  and  called  a  halt. 
Jones  demanded:  "  What's  up?" 

Sam  Wood  replied:  "That's  what  we  want  to 
know." 

Wood  asked:    "  Is  Jacob  Branson  in  this  crowd?" 
Branson  replied:  "Yes,  I  am  here  and  a  prisoner." 
Wood  replied  :    "Well,  come  out  here  among  your 
friends." 

Jones  threatened  with  oaths  and  imprecations  to 
shoot.  The  rescuing  party  leveled  their  guns  and  said : 
"Well,  we  can  shoot,  too."  Nobody  was  hurt,  no 
gun  was  fired,  and  Jacob  Branson,  coming  out  from 
among  his  captors,  walked  away. 

It  will  be  seen  that  this  was  a  clear  and  palpable 


84  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

violation  of  the  plan  of  procedure  which  the  free  State 
men  had  agreed  upon  among  themselves,  and  this  act 
made  Kansas  for  three  years  a  dark  and  bloody  ground, 
and  concentrated  on  this  Territory  the  eyes  of  the 
whole  nation.  Of  the  rescuing  party  only  three  were 
citizens  of  Lawrence.  Sam  Wood  was  in  his  element. 
He  was  a  man  overflowing  with  patriotism,  yet  suc- 
ceeded in  doing  more  harm  to  his  friends  than  to  his 
enemies.  He  possessed  unmistakable  talent ;  he  was 
a  clown  and  a  born  actor,  and  as  a  public  speaker  was 
sure  to  bring  down  the  house ;  he  was  a  pronounced 
free  State  man  ;  yet  in  this  act  he  made  himself  the 
marplot  of  his  party. 


CHAPTER  X. 

Sheriff  Jones  went  away,  vowing  thai  he  would  have 
revenge,  and  sent  the  following  dispatch  to  Gov.  Shannon: 

DOUGLAS  Co.,  K.  T.,  Nov.  27,  1855. 

SIR  : — Last  night  I,  with  a  posse  of  ten  men,  arrested  one  Jacob 
Branson,  by  virtue  of  a  peace  warrant  regularly  issued,  who,  on  our  re- 
turn, was  rescued  by  a  party  of  forty  men,  who  rushed  upon  us  suddenly 
from  behind  a  house  by  the  roadside,  all  armed  to  the  teeth  with  Sharpe's 
rifles. 

You  may  consider  an  open  rebellion  as  already  having  commenced, 
and  I  call  upon  you  for  THREE  THOUSAND  MEN  to  carry  out  the  laws. 
Mr.  Hargis,  the  bearer  of  this  letter,  will  give  you  more  particularly  the 
circumstances.  Most  respectfully, 

SAMUEL  J.  JONES, 
Sheriff  Douglas  County. 

To  His  EXCELLENCY,  WILSON   SHANNON,  GOVERNOR  KANSAS  TER- 
RITORY. 

On  receipt  of  the  above  dispatch,  Gov.  Shannon 
wrote  to  Major-General  William  P.  Richardson,  recit- 
ing the  story  told  him  by  Sheriff  Jones,  together  with 
additional  stories  (equally  false),  told  him  by  Hargis, 
and  closed  his  letter  with  the  following  order : 

You  are  therefore  hereby  commanded  to  collect  together  as  large  a 
force  as  you  can  in  your  division,  and  repair,  without  delay,  to  Lecomp- 
ton,  and  report  to  S.  J.  Jones,  Sheriff  of  Douglas  County,  together  with 
the  number  of  your  forces,  and  render  him  all  the  aid  and  assistance  in 
your  power  in  the  execution  of  any  legal  process  in  his  hands.  The 
forces  under  your  command  are  to  be  used  for  the  sole  purpose  of  aiding 
the  Sheriff  in  executing  the  law,  and  for  no  other  purpose.  I  have  the 
honor  to  be  Your  obedient  servant, 

WILSON  SHANNON. 
to 


86  PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS. 

Gov.  Shannon  knew,  as  well  as  he  knew  his  name 
was  Wilson  Shannon,  that  this  meant  another  invasion  of 
Kansas  Territory.  There  was  no  organized  militia  in 
Kansas.  Gen.  Richardson  did  not  live  in  Kansas  ;  he 
lived  in  Missouri,  and  it  meant  Missouri  militia  and  not 
Kansas  militia.  Moreover,  the  Governor  knew,  or  at 
least  ought  to  have  known,  what  an  unreliable  man 
this  Sheriff  Jones  was.  Jones  was  Postmaster  at  West- 
port,  and  Shannon  was  living  at  Shawnee  Mission,  in  the 
neighborhod  of  Westport.  And  yet,  without  one  mo- 
ment's inquiry,  he  placed  the  issues  of  life  and  death  of 
this  infant  Territory  in  the  hands  of  this  lying  scoundrel. 

There  was  a  rallying  of  the  clans  of  the  blue  lodges 
of  Missouri.  The  following  appeal,  sent  by  Brig. 
Gen.  Eastin,  editor  of  the  Leavenworth  Herald,  and 
commander  of  the  second  brigade,  Kansas  militia, 
must  serve  as  a  sample  of  the  dispatches  that  were 
scattered  broadcast  through  the  border  Missouri 
counties : 

"  TO   ARMS  !      TO  ARMS  !  !  " 

It  is  expected  that  every  lover  of  law  and  order  will  rally  at  Leaven- 
worth  on  Saturday,  December  I,  1855,  prepared  to  march  at  once  to  the 
scene  of  rebellion  to  put  down  the  outlaws  of  Douglas  county,  who  are 
committing  depredations  upon  persons  and  property,  burning  down  houses 
and  declaring  open  hostility  to  the  laws,  and  have  forcibly  rescued  a 
prisoner  from  the  Sheriff.  Come  one,  come  all !  The  outlaws  are 
armed  to  the  teeth,  an  I  number  l,ooo  men.  Every  man  should  bring 
his  rifle  and  ammunition,  and  it  would  be  well  to  bring  two  or  three  days' 
provisions.  Every  man  to  his  post  and  do  his  duty.  MANY  CITIZENS. 

In  answer  to  the  above  appeal  1,500  men,  mostly 
from  Missouri,  encamped  around  Lawrence,  under 
such  notabilities  as  Maj.  Gens.  Strickler  and  Richard- 
son, Brig.  Gen.  Eastin,  Col.  Atchison,  Col.  Peter  T. 
Abell,  Robert  S.  Kelley,  Stringfellow  and  Sheriff 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  8? 

Jones.  They  had  broken  into  the  United  States  Arse- 
nal at  Liberty,  Clay  County,  Mo.,  and  stolen  guns, 
cutlasses  and  such  munitions  of  war  as  they  required. 

But  when  this  was  known  the  free  State  men 
turned  out  from  all  the  settlements  of  Kansas  with 
equal  alacrity,  to  defend  Lawrence.  They  came  singly, 
and  in  squads  and  in  companies.  They  came  by  night 
and  by  day.  Sam  Wood,  Tappin  and  Smith,  the  res- 
cuers of  Branson,  and  who  were  residents  of  Lawrence, 
left  the  city,  and  there  were  none  there  against  whom 
Sheriff  Jones  had  any  writs  to  execute.  Dr.  Robinson 
was  appointed  Cornmander-in-Chief  for  the  defense  of 
the  city,  and  James  H.  Lane  was  appointed  second  in 
command.  But  Lane  was  the  principal  figure  in  the 
enterprise.  He  alone  had  military  experience,  and  he 
alone  had  the  daring,  the  genius  and  the  personal  mag- 
netism of  a  real  leader. 

The  free  State  men,  for  the  last  year,  had  been 
passing  through  the  furnace-fires  of  a  vigorous  disci- 
pline, and  they  would  have  fought  as  the  Tennessee 
and  Kentucky  backwoodsmen  of  Andrew  Jackson 
fought  behind  their  cotton  bales  at  the  battle  of  New 
Orleans.  They  had  seen  their  rights  wrested  out  of 
their  hands  by  a  mob  of  ruffians,  and  now  they  were 
proposing  to  settle  the  matter  in  that  court  of  last  re- 
sort that  is  the  final  and  ultimate  appeal  of  the  nations. 
Except  Gen.  Lane,  they  had  small  knowledge  of  mili- 
tary tactics,  but  they  knew  how  to  look  along  the  bar- 
rel of  a  rifle ;  moreover,  they  would  fight  behind 
breastworks,  and  this  -to  raw  troops  would  have  been  an 
immense  advantage. 

It  is  probable  that  the  first  intimation  that  Gov. 
Shannon  got  of  the  real  state  of  affairs  at  Lawrence 


88  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

was  conveyed  to  him  in  the  following  letter,  written  by 
Brig.  Gen.  Eastin : 

GOVERNOR  SHANNON  : — Information  has  been  received  direct  from 
Lawrence,  which  I  consider  reliable,  that  the  outlaws  are  well  fortified 
with  cannon  and  Sharpe'  rifles,  and  number  at  least  1,000  mem.  It  will, 
therefore,  be  difficult  to  dispossess  them. 

The  militia  in  this  portion  of  the  State  are  entirely  unorganized,  and 
mostly  without  arms.  I  suggest  the  propriety  of  calling  upon  the 
military  of  Fort  Leavenworth.  If  you  have  the  power  to  call  out  the 
government  troops,  I  think  it  would  be  best  to  do  so  at  once.  It  might 
overawe  these  outlaws  and  prevent  bloodshed.  S.  J.  EASTIN, 

Brig.  Gen.  Northern  Brigade,  K.  M. 

Gen.  Eastin  is  mistaken  in  putting  their  number 
at  1,000,  but  whether  many  or  few  they  certainly 
would  have  fought  a  hard  battle.  They  were  picked 
men  from  all  the  Kansas  settlements.  Our  old  friend, 
Caleb  May,  was  there,  as  grim  and  as  self-possessed  as 
Andrew  Jackson.  So  also  Old  John  Brown  was  there 
with  his  four  sons,  though  they  did  not  arrive  until 
Gov.  Shannon  had  made  overtures  for  peace. 

The  Governor  telegraphed  to  Washington  to  obtain 
authority  to  call  out  Col.  Sumner  with  the  United 
States  troops  at  Fort  Leavenworth.  He  also  wrote 
to  Col.  Sumner  to  hold  himself  ready  to  march  at  a 
moment's  notice.  And  now  this  simple-minded  Gov. 
Shannon,  Ex-Governor  of  Ohio,  who  had  come  to 
Kansas  to  waste  in  a  few  short  months  the  ripe  honors 
he  had  been  so  carefully  hoarding  up  for  a  life-time, 
bethought  himself  that  it  was  time  for  him  to  go  and 
look  with  his  own  eyes  after  this  rebellion  he  had  so 
foolishly  and  recklessly  stirred  up. 

We  have  already  remarked  that  Gen.  James  H. 
Lane  was  the  most  conspicuous  figure  in  the  defense  of 
Lawrence.  It  is  proper  to  pause  and  consider  the 


PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS.  89 

character  of  this  man,  who  shone  for  a  time  like  a  bril- 
liant meteor,  and  then  had  his  light  quenched  in  the 
blackness  of  darkness. 

He  had  now  been  eight  months  in  Kansas.  He 
came  out  of  the  Mexican  war  with  a  good  reputation  as 
a  brilliant  and  dashing  officer,  and  a  man  of  approved 
courage.  As  a  politician  he  had  been  highly  favored 
by  the  people  of  Indiana.  He  was  in  the  convention 
that  nominated  President  Pierce.  He  was  in  Congress 
at  the  time  of  the  passage  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska 
bill,  and  aided  in  its  enactment.  He  was  the  friend  of 
Stephen  A.  Douglas.  Yet  he  came  to  Kansas  a  man 
of  broken  fortunes.  He  was  bankrupt  in  reputation, 
bankrupt  in  property,  and  bankrupt  in  morals,  and  he 
came  away  from  unhappy  family  relations.  Notwith- 
standing, he  brought  with  him  boundless  ambition,  and 
a  consciousness  in  his  own  heart  that  he  possessed  genius 
that  might  lift  him  up  to  the  highest  pinnacle  of  honor. 
His  first  effort  was  to  reorganize  that  political  party  that 
was  in  control  of  the  Government  at  Washington,  and  that 
he  had  so  faithfully  served  in  Indiana.  As  respects 
slavery,  he  probably  would  have  said  with  Mr.  Doug- 
las that  he  did  not  care  whether  it  was  voted  up  or 
voted  down.  But  his  effort  fell  stillborn  and  dead. 
Dr.  John  H.  Stringfellow  was  an  old  Whig,  and  so  also 
were  many  of  the  Pro-slavery  leaders,  and  they  would 
not  hear  to  it  that  there  should  be  any  parties  known 
save  the  Pro-slavery  and  Free  State  parties.  The  Free 
State  men  were  equally  averse  to  making  any  division 
in  their  own  ranks.  Mr.  Lane  was  to  choose,  and  he 
did  choose  with  a  vengeance. 

Bad  men  usually  pay  this  compliment  to  a  right- 
eous life,  that  they  seek  to  conceal  their  wicked  deeds 


pO  PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS. 

and  wear  the  outside  seeming  of  virtue.  But  this 
strange  man  never  pretended  to  be  anything  else  than 
just  what  he  was.  He  displayed  such  audacious  bold- 
ness as  gave  an  air  of  respectability  even  to  his  wick- 
edness. 

His  public  speaking  did  not  belong  to  any  school  of 
oratory  known  among  men  ;  yet,  if  to  sway  the  people 
as  a  tempest  bends  to  its  will  a  field  of  waving  grain,  be 
oratory,  then  was  Mr.  Lane,  in  the  highest  sense  of 
the  word,  an  orator.  He  spoke  once  in  Chicago  when 
the  people  were  most  excited  over  the  Kansas  troubles. 
A  great  crowd  came  to  hear,  and  he  swayed  them  to 
his  will,  as  only  such  men  as  Henry  Ward  Beecher  and 
Patrick  Henry  have  been  able  to  do.  But  this  gospel 
was  the  gospel  of  hate.  Implacable,  unforgiving  hate 
was  his  only  gospel. 

At  last  this  man,  at  once  both  great  and  wicked, 
having  attained  the  highest  honors  the  people  had  to 
bestow,  died  by  his  own  hand.  The  people  believed 
that  he  had  gone  wrong  and  betrayed  them,  and  they 
withdrew  from  him  their  favor.  Mr.  Lane  loved  pop- 
ularity more  than  he  loved  heaven,  and  he  shot  him- 
self through  the  brain. 

The  writer,  unwilling  alone  to  take  the  responsibil- 
ity of  expressing  such  a  judgment  as  the  above,  ap- 
pealed to  a  gentlemen  whose  high  position  in  public 
life  and  kindly  and  conservative  temper  eminently 
qualify  him  to  speak,  and  this  is  what  he  says  : 

No  one  can  question  the  fact  that  Mr.  Lane's  career  in  Kansas  ex- 
erted a  great  influence  in  shaping  the  affairs  and  controlling  the  destiny 
of  the  young  State.  During  his  life  I  was  alternately  swayed  by  feelings 
of  admiration  and  distrust.  I  recognized  fully  the  marvelous  energy  and 
equally  marvelous  influence  of  the  man,  but  I  distrusted  his  sincerity 
and  lacked  confidence  in  his  integrity.  When  I  met  him,  or  listened  to 


PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS.  9! 

one  of  his  impassioned  speeches,  ne  swept  me  away  with  the  contagion 
of  his  seeming  enthusiasm,  but  when  I  went  out  from  the  influence  of 
his  personal  magnetism  I  felt  that  something  was  lacking  in  the  man  to 
justify  a  well-grounded  confidence. 

This  man  that  had  in  him  such  a  commingling  of 
good  and  evil  was  now  the  leading  spirit  in  the  defense 
of  Lawrence.  * 


#The  Thirteenth  Kansas  Regiment,  which  was  raised  in  1862,  was  composed 
of  Atchison  County  men.  They  voted  to  request  father  to  become  their  chaplain, 
and  they  sent  him  word,  requesting  him  to  apply  to  Gen.  Lane  for  the  appointment. 
He  did  so,  and  received  a  letter  from  Gen.  Lane,  asking,  "  How  much  will  you 
pay  for  the  place  ?  "  Father  replied,  "  If  the  position  of  chaplain  is  sold  for  a  price, 
1  do  not  want  it." 


CHAPTER  XL 

When  Sheriff  Jones  saw  that  the  control  of  this 
business  was  being  taken  out  of  the  hands  of  himself 
and  his  fellow-conspirators  he  wrote  the  following 
letter  to  Gov.  Shannon  : 

CAMP  AT  WAKARUSA,  Dec.  6,  1855. 
To  His  EXCELLENCY,  Gov.  SHANNON  : 

Sir:  In  reply  to  yours  of  yesterday  I  have  to  inform  you  that  the 
volunteer  forces  now  at  this  place  and  Lecompton  are  getting  weary  of 
inaction.  They  will  not,  I  presume,  remain  but  a  short  time  longer,  un- 
less a  demand  for  the  prisoner  is  made.  I  think  I  shall  have  sufficient 
force  to  protect  me  by  to-morrow  morning.  The  force  at  Lawrence  is  not 
half  so  strong  as  reported.  If  I  am  to  wait  for  Government  troops, 
more  than  two-thirds  of  the  men  that  are  here  will  go  away  very  much 
dissatisfied.  They  are  leaving  hourly  as  it  is. 

It  is  reported  that  the  people  of  Lawrence  have  run  off  those  offend- 
ers from  town,  and,  indeed,  it  is  said  they  are  now  all  out  of  the  way.  I 
have  writs  for  sixteen  persons  who  were  with  the  party  that  rescued  my 
prisoner.  S.  N.  Wood,  P.  R.  Brooks  and  Samuel  Tappan  are  of  Law- 
rence, the  balance  from  the  country  around.  Warrants  will  be  put  into 
my  hands  to-day  for  the  arrest  of  G.  W.  Brown,  and  probably  others  in 
Lecompton.  They  say  that  they  are  willing  to  obey  the  laws,  but  no 
confidence  can  be  placed  in  any  statements  they  may  make. 
Most  respectfully  yours, 

SAMUEL  J.  JONES, 
Sheriff  of  Douglas  County. 

From  the  above,  three  facts  are  apparent : 

I.   Sheriff  Jones  is  not  willing  that  the  militia  shall 

go  home,    and    Col.    Sumner  and   the  United  States 

troops  take  their  places. 


PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS.  93 

2.  He  has  writs  against  the  sixteen  rescuers  of  Bran- 
son. But  of  these  he  has  ascertained  that  thirteen  live 
in  the  country,  and  he  does  not  need  to  go  to  Law- 
rence to  find  them.  The  three  that  belong  in  Law- 
rence are  gone  to  parts  unknown,  and  he  does  not 
need  to  go  to  Lawren  ce  to  find  them.  At  this  writing 
Sheriff  Junes  has  not  a  single  writ  against  any  person  in 
Lawrence. 

3.  If  he  has  such  a  warrant  the  Lawrence  people 
profess  themselves  willing  that  he  should  serve  it,  but 
he  does  not  believe  them.  "No  confidence  can  be 
placed  in  any  statements  that  they  may  make." 

So  far  as  Sheriff  Jones  is  concerned,  it  is  now  mani- 
fest that  this  was  a  devilish  conspiracy  against 
the  people  of  Lawrence,  to  cut  their  throats  and  burn 
up  the  town.  How  far  the  men  that  were  with  him 
were  conscious  partners  in  his  guilt,  or  how  far  they 
were  ignorant  dupes  of  a  man  that  had  murder  in  his 
heart,  does  not  appear. 

The  people  of  Lawrence  now  thought  it  was  time 
for  them  to  open  communication  with  Gov.  Shannon, 
and  Messrs.  G.  P.  Lowery  and  C.  W.  Babcock,  after 
running  the  gauntlet  of  the  patrols,  robbers  and  gueril- 
las that  infested  the  road  to  Shawnee  Mission,  suc- 
ceeded in  putting  in  the  hands  of  the  Governor  the  fol- 
lowing letter  : 

To  His  EXCELLENCY,  WILSON  SHANNON,  GOVERNOR  KANSAS  TER- 
RITORY : 

Sir:  As  citizens  of  Kansas  Territory,  we  desire  to  call  your  attention 
to  the  fact  that  a  large  force  of- armed  men  from  a  foreign  State  have  as- 
sembled in  the  vicirity  of  Lawrence,  are  now  committing  depredations 
upon  our  citizens,  stopping  them,  opening  and  appropriating  their  load- 
ings, arresting,  detaining  and  threatening  travelers  upon  the  public  road, 
and  that  they  claim  to  do  this  by  your  authority.  We  desire  to  know 


94  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

if  they  do  appear  by  your  authority,  and  if  you  will  secure  the  peace 
and  quiet  of  the  community  by  ordering  their  instant  removal,  or  compel 
us  to  resort  to  some  other  means  or  a  higher  authority. 

SIGNED  BY  COMMITTEE. 

The  Governor  began  to  think  it  was  time  for  him 
to  go  to  the  camp  of  Sheriff  Jones'  army  on  the  Waka- 
rusa ;  and  when  he  came  he  was  frightened  at  his  own 
work,  and  became  just  as  eager  to  get  out  of  the  scrape 
as  he  had  been  forward  to  get  into  it.  He  wrote  to 
Col.  Su inner,  frantically  begging  him  to  come  to  the 
rescue  ;  but  he  had  got  no  orders,  and  would  not  move 
without  orders.  Sheriff  Jones  and  the  rank  and  file  of 
his  camp  were  furious  that  they  were  held  back  from 
pitching  into  the  Lawrence  people  ;  but  the  officers  had 
become  cognizant  of  the  bloody  job  they  would  have 
on  hands,  and  were  willing  to  be  let  off.  And  so  the 
Governor  patched  up  a  peace,  and  sent  his  militia  home 
again,  with  their  curses  diverted  from  the  Lawrence 
Abolitionists  to  Gov.  Shannon.  Cowardly,  weak- 
minded  and  infirm  in  purpose  as  this  unhappy  man  was, 
he  was  not  wholly  a  fool ;  and  we  may  justly  believe 
that  he  had  in  his  heart  a  foreboding  of  that  awful  day 
of  reckoning  that  would  surely  come,  when  inquisition 
would  be  made  for  the  blood  of  these  citizens,  and  the 
Governor  himself  would  be  called  to  answer,  "Why 
were  these  men  slain  ?  " 

And  now  that  peace — angelic  peace — sat  brooding 
over  Lawrence  with  her  dove-like  pinions,  they  made  a 
love-feast  and  invited  the  Governor  to  partake  of  it ; 
and  what  with  the  ravishing  music,  and  the  blandish- 
ment of  flattering  tongues,  and  the  intoxication  of  fair 
women's  eyes  and  sweet  voices,  the  Governor  was 
made  to  forget,  for  the  time  being,  that  he  was  the 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  95 

property, body, soul, and  spirit, of  the  "Law  and  Order" 
party  ;  and  his  soft  and  plastic  nature  was  beguiled  into 
signing  a  docum  ent  constituting  the  army  of  defense  of 
Lawrence  a  part  of  the  Territorial  Militia,  and  giving 
them  authority,  under  his  own  hand  and  seal,  to  fight 
with  teeth  and  toe-nails  against  the  outside  barbarians 
that  he  himself  had  invoked  to  cut  their  throats. 
When,  however,  he  had  come  to  himself,  and  had  to 
front  the  frowns  and  ungrammatical  curses  of  the 
"  Border  Ruffians,"  he  was  fain  to  lay  the  blame  on 
the  sparkling  wine  of  the  feast,  and  the  more  sparkling 
eyes  and  sparkling  wit  of  beautiful  women. 

These  felicitations  of  the  people  of  Lawrence  with 
Governor  Shannon  did,  however,  have  a  somber  and 
awful  background.  While  this  had  been  going  on  a 
boy  had  been  murdered  in  the  vicinity  of  Lawrence. 
Some  young  men  rode  out  to  see  about  it,  and  one  of 
them  was  shot  and  killed.  But  a  still  more  ghastly 
crime  threw  its  baleful  shadow  over  the  people.  It 
was  perpetrated  two  days  before  the  Governor  con- 
cluded his  treaty  of  peace. 

Thomas  W.  Barber  and  Robert  F.  Barber  were 
farmers,  living  about  seven  miles  from  Lawrence  ;  and 
on  December  6th  started  with  a  Mr.  Pierson  to  go 
home  to  their  families.  These  were  two  brothers  and 
a  brother-in-law.  They  were  intercepted  on  their  way 
by  J.  N.  Burns,  of  Weston,  Mo.,  and  Major  George 
W.  Clarke,  United  States  Agent  for  the  Pottawatomie 
Indians.  These  two  men  shot  Thomas  W.  Barber. 
It  is  hard  to  find  an  explanation  of  their  act,  unless  it 
were  that  they  came  to  Lawrence  to  shoot  down  Abo- 
litionists as  they  would  have  shot  wolves  on  the  prai- 
rie. They  had  no  provocation.  They  rode  apart  from 


96  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

their  companions  to  intercept  the  Barbers,  and  called 
on  them  to  halt.  Thomas  W.  Barber  was  unarmed, 
and  gave  mild  and  truthful  answers  to  their  questions. 
After  the  shooting  the  brothers  started  to  ride  away, 
when  the  murdered  man  said,  "  That  fellow  hit  me;  " 
began  to  sway  in  his  saddle,  was  supported  for  a  little 
time  by  his  brother,  then  fell  to  the  ground  dead.  His 
horse  also  had  been  shot,  and  died  the  same  night. 
Familiar  as  Kansas  had  become  with  cruel  and  devilish 
deeds,  there  were  circumstances  connected  with  this  act 
that  made  it  exceptionally  a  blood-curdling  horror. 
Thomas  W.  Barber  was  a  somewhat  notable  farmer, 
and  had  married  a  young  wife,  that  loved  her  husband 
with  a  love  so  passionate  that  she  was  sometimes  rallied 
about  it  by  her  sister-in-law.  It  had  been  with  misgiv- 
ings and  forebodings  she  had  consented  for  Barber  to 
go  to  Lawrence.  The  news  of  her  husband's  death 
had  been  kept  from  her  ;  they  dared  not  tell  her.  A 
young  man  was  sent  to  bring  her  into  the  city,  whither 
her  husband's  body  had  been  already  carried,  and  he 
blurted  out,  "Thomas  Barber  is  killed!"  and  she 
shrieked,  ' '  O,  my  husband !  my  husband  !  Have  they 
killed  my  husband  ?  "  It  has  been  said  that  so  frantic 
were  her  struggles,  that  it  was  with  main  force  they 
had  to  hold  her  in  the  carriage  which  conveyed  her  into 
the  city.  Much  has  been  written  of  the  pathetic  and 
voiceless  woe  of  this  wretched  and  sorrow-stricken 
woman,  but  we  will  spare  the  reader  the  recital. 

This  question,  however,  we  did  often  ask  our- 
selves: "  What  had  we  done  that  we  should  be  made 
to  suffer  thus?" 

But  now  there  was  peace,  and  Sheriff  Jones, 
breathing  out  curses  against  the  Governor  who  had 


PERSONAL  RECOLLECTIONS.  97 

balked  him  of  his  anticipated  revenge,  disbanded  his 
army  and  went  back  to  his  post-office  at  Westport.  It 
was  past  the  middle  of  December,  but  some  lingered 
on  their  way,  robbing  and  stealing.  The  cold  grew 
intense.  A  driving  snow  came  down  from  the  North. 
It  was  one  of  the  coldest  winters  Kansas  had  ever 
known,  and  there  fell  one  of  the  deepest  snows.  And 
now,  winding  through  the  deep  snow,  benumbed  with 
cold,  and  all  unprovided  with  clothing  suitable  for 
such  inclement  weather,  the  rear  guard  of  the  ring- 
streaked,  speckled  and  spotted  regiment  of  Kansas  and 
Missouri  Militia  passed  out  of  the  Territory. 

Thirteen  leaders  of  the  "Law  and  Order"  party 
had  met  with  Lane  and  Robinson,  acting  on  behalf  of 
the  people  of  Lawrence,  and  had  agreed  to  the  terms 
of  the  treaty.  But  Sheriff  Jones  is  reported  to  have 

said :  '  '  Had  not  Shannon  been  a fool  I  would 

have  wiped  out  Lawrence."  It  is  reported  that 
Stringfellow  said  that  * '  Shannon  had  sold  himself  and 
disgraced  himself  and  the  whole  Pro-slavery  party." 
Atchison  accepted  the  terms,  saying  to  his  follow- 
ers :  '  *  Boys,  we  can  not  fight  now.  The  position  that 
Lawrence  has  taken  is  such  that  it  would  not  do  to 
make  an  attack  on  them.  But  boys,  we  will  fight 
some  time !  " 

The  peace  was  to  be  broken  at  the  earliest  oppor- 
tunity. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

The  winter  of  1855-6  that  I  spent  in  Illinois  was 
uneventful.  My  success  was  not  such  as  to  discourage 
an  evangelist  that  desires  to  be  useful,  neither  was  it 
such  as  to  fill  him  with  vanity.  The  weather  was  in- 
tensely cold,  and  the  snow  was  deep. 

It  is  said  that  before  the  coming  of  an  earthquake, 
the  sea  gives  forth  deep  meanings,  as  if  it  felt  the  ap- 
proaching convulsion;  so  at  that  time  there  seemed 
premonitions  in  the  hearts  of  the  people  that  the  whole 
nation,  North,  South,  East  and  West,  would  be  swept 
by  a  political  cyclone  that  should  leave  behind  it  the 
desolation  that  is  sometimes,  in  the  West  India  Islands, 
left  in  the  track  of  a  tropical  hurricane.  We  had 
heard  of  the  murder  of  Dow,  the  rescue  of  Branson, 
and  the  invasion  of  Lawrence,  and  these  certainly  did 
not  give  promise  that  Kansas  would  be  a  favorable 
field  for  evangelical  work,  at  least  for  a  time.  The 
writer  had  not  hitherto  spent  much  of  his  time  in 
Adams  county ;  he  now  spent  a  considerable  part  of 
the  winter  there,  and  visited  the  churches  of  Quincy, 
Chambersburg,  Camp  Point,  and  many  others.  The 
brethren  at  Quincy  were  making  that  experiment  of 
monthly  preaching  that  has  been  found  so  hazardous, 
especially  to  city  churches.  They  have  since  changed 
the  plan  with  wonderfully  good  results.  It  was  at  the 
church  at  Chambersburg  that  Bro.  Cottingham  who 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  99 

has  now  won  a  national  reputation,  achieved  some  of 
his  earliest  successes. 

The  majority  of  the  leading  members  of  these 
churches  had  been  men  and  women  of  full  age  when 
they  left  Kentucky.  Some  had  tarried  a  little  time  in 
Indiana.  The  memory  of  some  went  back  to  the  time 
when  the  Mississippi  Valley  was  almost  an  unbroken 
wilderness,  with  here  and  there  a  scattered  settlement, 
made  up  of  a  frontier  and  uneducated  people.  What 
are  now  its  great  cities  were  then  insignificant  hamlets, 
and  its  means  of  commerce  were  rude  flat  boats  on  its 
rivers,  and  pack-horses,  or  clumsy,  heavy  lumber  wag- 
ons on  its  rough  and  often  impassable  roads.  There 
were  few  schools,  fewer  churches  and  still  fewer  edu- 
cated men.  The  country  was  perambulated  by  itiner- 
ant preachers.  These  were  guided  by  visions  and  rev- 
elations. Signs,  omens  and  impressions  directed  them 
to  their  field  of  labor  and  controlled  their  lives.  Ec- 
static joy,  vivid  impressions,  voices  in  the  air,  or  see- 
ing the  Lord  in  the  tree-tops,  were  their  evidences  of 
pardon. 

Once  every  year  the  people  came  together  to  a 
great  camp-meeting.  There  was  intense  excitement 
and  enthusiasm,  and  many  got  religion ;  and  this  was 
followed  by  spiritual  lethargy,  coldness  and  apostasy. 
It  was  a  short,  hot  summer,  followed  by  a  long,  cold 
winter  of  moral  and  spiritual  death. 

Among  the  Old  Baptists  there  was  preaching  once 
a  month.  This  was  all.  There  were  no  prayer-meetings, 
no  meeting  together  every  first  day  of  the  week  to 
break  break  and  read  the  Holy  Scriptures.  Christian 
morality  was  at  a  low  ebb,  and  Christian  liberality 
to  zero, 


IOO  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

At  length  there  came  a  change.  The  fountains  of 
the  great  deep  were  broken  up,  and  men  broke  loose 
from  the  dominion  of  these  old  and  man-made  systems. 
John  Smith  took  the  lead,  and  was  followed  by  old 
Jacob  Creath,  Samuel  Rogers,  John  Rogers,  John  Al- 
len Gano,  P.  S.  Fall,  and  many  others.  Alex.  Camp- 
bell once  said : 

If  any  man  can  read  the  Acts  of  Apostles  through  three  times, 
chapter  by  chapter,  pondering  each  chapter  as  he  reads,  and  then  can 
remain  an  advocate  of  these  old  systems  of  conversion,  may  the  Lord 
have  mercy  on  him! 

But  the  old  Baptists  fiercely  resisted  the  Reformers, 
and  cast  them  out  as  heathen  men  and  publicans. 
And  now  the  Bible  was  a  new  revelation  to  the  men 
that  came  into  this  movement.  The  veil  was  taken 
off  their  eyes,  and  they  could  read  the  Scriptures  as 
they  had  never  read  them  before.  They  could  now 
see  that  the  Bible  was  a  simple  and  intelligible  volume, 
written  to  be  understood  by  the  common  people,  and 
they  were  only  amazed  at  their  former  blindness.  But 
they  were  made  to  know  what  persecution  means. 
All  the  denominations  combined  against  them,  and 
they  were  compelled  to  read  the  Scriptures  to  defend 
themselves;  and  thus  pressed  by  their  enemies  on 
every  hand,  they  were  made  to  feel  how  near  they 
were  to  each  other,  and  how  much  they  loved  each 
other,  and  it  became  an  easy  thing  to  meet  togther 
every  first  day  of  the  week  to  sing,  to  pray,  to  exhort, 
and  to  commemorate  the  death  of  their  risen  Lord. 
But  many  of  them  were  poor,  and  had  growing  fami- 
lies, and  they  had  heard  that  there  was  a  large  and 
good  land  in  the  Military  Tract  in  Illinois,  and  with 
many  a  tearful  adieu,  and  bidding  farewell  to  the  lanci 


PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS.  IOI 

they  loved  so  well,  like  Abraham  going  out  into  the 
land  that  God  had  given  him,  into  this  land  flowing 
with  milk  and  honey  they  came — and  prospered. 

And  here  the  writer  of  these  ' '  Personal  Recollec- 
tions "  found  them,  growing  strong,  and  rich,  and  in- 
fluential, and  more  prosperous  than  any  other  religious 
body  in  Adams  county.  It  is  now  after  the  lapse  of 
thirty  years,  to  be  mentioned  to  their  honor — and  to 
the  honor  of  the  churches  of  the  State — that  they 
have  made  commendable  progress  in  the  direction  of  a 
Christian  liberality,  and  of  moral,  intellectual,  and  re- 
ligious growth ;  still  they  are  not  yet  up  to  the  mark. 

For  the  purpose  of  the  moral,  intellectual  and  re- 
ligious education  of  his  people,  the  Lord  has  given  us 
one  day  in  seven,  and  in  one  year  he  has  given  us  fifty- 
two  such  days.  This  in  seven  years  is  one  whole 
year,  and  in  seventy-five  years  it  is  ten  years,  leaving 
out  five  years  as  the  period  of  babyhood ;  and  this  as 
fitting  men  for  the  highest  style  of  religious  life,  and 
of  American  citizenship  is,  if  well  employed,  the  best 
school  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  Needs  it  to  be  said, 
that  to  do  this  work  well,  the  teachers  in  this  school  ot 
the  prophets  have  need  to  be  well  qualified  ?  There 
are  certain  Scriptures  bearing  on  this  point  we  will  do 
well  to  ponder : 

Meditate  on  these  things  ;  give  thyself  wholly  to  them,  that  thy 
profitting  may  appear  unto  all. 

No  man  that  warreth  entangleth  himself  with  the  affairs  of  this 
life,  that  he  may  please  him  who  hath  called  him  to  be  a  soldier.  The 
Lord  give  thee  understanding  in  all  things. 

We  have  no  churches  in  this  nation  to  whom  these 
admonitions  apply  with  greater  weight  of  impressive 
authority  than  to  the  churches  of  Illinois.  Where  much 


102  PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS. 

is  given,  there  much  is  required,  and  to  no  State  in 
the  Union  has  more  been  given  in  the  way  of  worldly 
wealth  than  to  the  Disciples  of  that  commonwealth. 
There  is  not  such  another  body  of  rich  land  in  this 
great  nation,  perhaps  not  in  the  world.  Water  is  an 
element  essential  to  the  highest  productiveness,  even 
of  fertile  soil,  and  the  vapors  rising  on  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico  have  not  a  hillock  three  hundred  feet  high  to 
obstruct  their  flow  up  the  Mississippi  eastward  and 
northward,  until  they  reach  the  State  of  Illinois.  And 
the  men  that  do  business  in  the  cities  of  this  prosper- 
ous State,  or  till  its  fertile  and  alluvial  soil,  that  was 
lifted  up,  not  many  geologic  ages  ago,  from  beneath 
the  bottom  of  the  sea,  are  so  rich  they  do  not  know 
how  rich  they  are.  But  it  is  a  peril  to  be  rich.  Jesus, 
Paul  and  Solomon  unite  in  saying  so,  and  it  is  espe- 
cially a  peril  when  wealth  comes  suddenly.  When  a 
man  starts  poor,  and  has  felt  the  sting  of  contempt 
because  of  his  poverty,  and  then  finds  himself  rich 
and  prosperous  and  flattered,  and  tempted  to  indulge 
in  every  luxury,  then  this  man  is  in  great  peril ;  and 
there  is  no  security  against  this  danger  like  using  the 
wealth  that  God  has  given  him  for  the  glory  of  God 
and  the  good  of  men. 

But  there  were  brethren  thirty  years  ago  that 
needed  no  admonition  as  touching  the  disposition  they 
should  make  of  their  world  goods.  I  could  give  a 
goodly  number  of  examples,  but  the  reader  will  par- 
don me  if,  because  of  the  narrow  limits  of  these  "Rec- 
ollections," I  confine  myself  to  one. 

Peter  B.  Garrett,  of  Camp  Point,  Adams  county, 
had  set  himself,  with  honest  purpose,  to  bring  his 
Kentucky  brethren  up  to  the  level  of  the  demands  of 


PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS.  IO3 

primitive  and  apostolic  Christianity.  Every  man  has 
his  hobby,  and  Bro.  G.  had  his  hobby.  When  the 
writer  first  visited  Camp  Point,  he  was  demanded  of  to 
know  if  it  was  not  a  fixed  part  of  the  apostolic  order 
that  each  disciple  should,  on  the  first  day  of  the  week, 
lay  by  him  in  store,  of  money  or  goods,  as  the  Lord 
had  prospered  him,  putting  it  into  the  Lord's  treasury  ? 
I  could  not  quite  affirm  this,  but  Bro.  G.  stuck  to  his 
hobby. 

Bro.  Garrett  knew  the  value  of  a  full  treasury,  and 
was  ready  to  do  his  part  towards  settling  a  preacher  in 
the  church,  and  paying  him.  But  he  could  not  bring 
his  brethren  up  to  the  level  of  his  own  aspirations. 

Pro.  G.  came  from  Kentucky  a  poor  man,  but  he 
got  hold  of  a  considerable  body  of  good  land,  when  it 
was  cheap,  and  cultivated  it  skillfully.  Then  the  Quincy, 
Galesburg  and  Chicago  Railroad  was  build  in  front  of 
his  farm,  and  the  town  of  Camp  Point  grew  up  adjoin- 
ing his  premises.  He  also  built  a  flouring  mill,  and 
this  added  to  his  gains ;  and  thus  he  grew  rich  and  in- 
fluential, but  he  never  thought  of  himself  only  as  plain 
Peter  Garrett.  The  writer  in  fifty  years  has  known 
many  excellent  Christian  families,  but  he  has  never 
known  one  family  that,  with  saint  and  sinner,  among 
persons  outside  and  inside  of  the  church,  have  had  a 
more  honorable  fame  than  this  Christian  family.  His 
wife  was  a  motherly  woman.  She  did  not  assume  to 
know  much,  but  what  she  did  know  she  knew  well, 
and  translated  her  little  store  of  knowledge  into  an 
abundance  of  good  deeds.  She  knew  how  to  guide  the 
house,  take  good  care  of  her  children,  live  in  peace  with 
her  neighbors,  love  the  church  and  attend  its  meetings, 
fear  God  and  entertain  strangers ;  and  so  this  house, 


IO4  PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS. 

like  the  house  of  the  Vicar  of  Wakefield,  became  a 
icsort  for 

"All  the  vagrant  train," 

whether  of  tramps  or  preachers.  His  children,  from 
the  time  they  were  able  to  toddle,  were  taught  to  do 
something  useful.  His  little  boys  were  made  to  bring 
in  wood,  and  run  on  errands,  and  his  girls  to  wash  the 
dishes  ;  and  thus  this  house  became  a  hive  of  industry, 
and  it  came  to  pass  that  in  process  of  time,  when  our 
beloved  Bro.  Garrison,  of  the  Christian-Evangelist, 
went  out  to  seek  a  woman  to  take  care  of  his  house, 
he  very  properly  sought  this  favor  at  the  hands  of 
Peter  Garrett's  daughter.  It  is  a  good  thing  to  follow 
a  good  example,  and  our  devoted  Bro.  Smart,  hitherto 
of  the  Witness,  now  co-editor  of  the  Evangelist,  went 
and  did  likewise.* 

Bro.  Garret  loaned  the  writer  a  light  spring  wagon 
for  the  purpose  of  bringing  his  family  back  from  Kan- 
sas, and  thus  equipped,  he  started  a  second  time  on 
the  journey  he  had  made  one  year  before. 

One  thought  filled  his  heart :  Will  this  tumult  pass 
away,  and  will  the  American  people  go  forward  and 
fulfill  that  glorious  destiny  to  which  God  in  his  provi- 
dence has  called  them  ? 


*  Bro.  Garrett  not  only  gave  freely  of  his  money  to  the  church,  but  he  gave 
freely  of  time,  and  trouble,  and  anxious  watching.  He  also  gave  liberally  and 
constantly  of  provisions  and  other  necessaries  to  his  poorer  neighbors.  His 
brother-in-law,  Dr.  Moort,  complained  that  he  was  spoiling  the  church  by 
taking  such  constant  care  of  it.  "O  well,"  said  Bro.  Garrett  one  day,  "every 

church  has  to  have  a  wheel-horse,  and  I  might  as  well  be  the  wheel-horse  as  any 

•     i     • 
body. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

The  news  of  the  coming  of  the  South  Carolinians 
had  not  reached  Illinois  when  I  started  for  Kansas, 
but  when  I  had  reached  Western  Missouri  the  country 
was  alive  with  excitement.  Maj.  Jefferson  Buford  had 
arrived  with  350  soldiers,  and  a  part  of  them  were 
quartered  in  Atchison.  Some  persons  whose  acquaint- 
ance I  had  made,  and  who  were  my  friends,  besought 
me  not  to  go  on. 

The  last  night  I  stayed  in  Missouri  was  at  De  Kalb. 
A  gentleman  who  had  come  from  St.  Joseph  stayed 
over  night  at  the  hotel  where  I  put  up.  He  was  tall 
of  stature,  with  a  flowing  beard  sprinkled  with  gray, 
and  was  of  a  remarkably  dignified  and  impressive  pres- 
ence. We  conversed  during  the  evening  on  general 
topics,  but  no  allusion  was  made  to  the  one  exciting 
topic,  on  which  almost  all  seemed  ready  to  talk  in- 
stanter. 

The  next  morning  he  overtook  me.  He  was  on 
horseback,  and  mentioned  that  he  was  going  to  Atchi- 
son, and  for  some  distance  rode  beside  my  buggy, 
continuing  the  conversation.  Then,  as  he  could  travel 
faster  than  myself,  he  rode  on. 

The  reader  will  recognize  this  gentleman  again  in 
Atchison.  An  account  of  my  adventures  *  on  the  other 

*  When  father  took  this  letter  to  Lawrence,  he  met  Mr.  Redpath,  the  Tri- 
bune reporter,  who  requested  permission  to  copy  it  for  the  New  York  Tribune. 

105 


IO6  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

side  of  the  river  will  be  found  in  a  letter  addressed  by 
myself  to  the  Herald  of  Freedom  : 

[For  the  Herald  of  Freedom.] 

STRANGER  CREEK,  Ocena  P.  O.,  May  6,  1856. 

MR.  EDITOR — Dear  Sir :  The  bar  of  public  opinion  seems  to  be 
the  only  tribunal  to  which  the  free  State  men  of  Kansas  can  appeal  for 
redress.  I  must,  therefore,  ask  your  indulgence  while  I  make  a  state- 
ment of  facts. 

One  year  ago  I  came  to  Kansas  and  bought  a  claim  on  Stranger 
Creek,  Atchison  county.  On  the  I7th  of  August,  the  Border  Ruffians 
of  the  town  of  Atchison  sent  me  down  the  Missouri  River  on  a  raft. 
We  parted  under  a  mutual  pledge  :  I  pledged  myself  that  if  my  life  was 
spared  I  would  come  back  to  Atchison,  and  they  pledged  themselves 
that  if  I  did  come  back  they  would  hang  me.  Faithful  to  my  promise, 
in  November  last  I  returned  to  Kansas,  and  visited  Atchison  in  open 
day,  announced  myself  on  hand,  and  returned  without  molestation. 
Kansas  being  sparsely  settled,  without  churches  or  meeting-houses,  it 
was  determined  that  Mrs.  Butler  should  live  on  our  claim  with  her  brother 
and  her  brother's  wife,  while  I  should  return  to  Illinois,  and  resume 
my  labors  as  a  preacher. 

April  3Oth  I  returned  to  Kansas,  crossing  the  Missouri  River  into 
Atchison.  I  spoke  with  no  one  in  the  town,  save  with  two  merchants  of 
the  place,  with  whom  I  have  had  business  transactions  since  my  first 
arrival  in  the  Territory.  Having  remained  only  a  few  moments,  I  went 
to  my  buggy  to  resume  my  journey,  when  I  was  assaulted  by  Robert  S. 
Kelley,  co-editor  of  the  Squatter  Sovereign,  and  others,  was  dragged  into 
a  saloon,  and  there  surrounded  by  a  company  of  South  Carolinians, 
who  are  reported  to  have  been  sent  out  by  a  Southern  Emigrant  Aid 
Society.  In  this  last  mob  I  recognized  only  two  that  were  citizens  of 
Atchison  or  engaged  in  the  former  mob.  It  is  not  reported  that  these 
emigrants  from  the  Palmetto  State  seek  out  a  claim,  and  make  for  them- 
selves a  home,  neither  do  they  enter  into  any  legitimate  business.  They 
very  expressively  describe  themselves  as  having  come  out  to  see  Kansas 
through.  They  yelled,  "Kill  him!  Kill  him!  Hang  the Abo- 


Before  Mr.  Redpath  had  completed  his  copy,  the  editor  of  the  Herald  of  Free- 
dom demanded  the  manuscript  to  put  in  type.  The  edition  of  the  Herald  of 
Freedom  containing  it  was  destroyed,  and  father  only  obtained  a  mutilated  copy  of 
it.  But  from  that  portion  printed  in  the  Tribune,  and  what  was  left  of  the  Herald 
of  Freedom,  he  secured  a  complete  copy  of  the  letter. 


PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS. 

litionist."  One  of  their  number  bristled  up  to  me  and  said,"  "  Have  you 
got  a  revolver?"  I  answered,  "No."  He  handed  me  a  pistol  and 

said,  "There,  take  that,  and  stand  off  ten  steps;  and ,  I  will  blow 

you  through  in  an  instant."  I  replied,  "  I  have  no  use  for  your  weapon." 
I  afterwards  heard  them  congratulating  themselves  in  reference  to  this, 
that  they  had  acted  in  an  honorable  manner  with  me.  The  fellow  was 
furious;  but  his  companions  dissuaded  him  from  shooting  me,  saying 
they  were  going  to  hang  me. 

They  pinioned  my  arms  behind  my  back,  obtained  a  rope,  but  were 
interrupted  by  the  entrance  of  a  stranger — a  gentleman  from  Missouri, 
since  ascertained  to  be  Judge  Tutt,  a  lawyer  from  St.  Joseph.  He  said : 
"My  friends,  hear  me.  I  am  an  old  man,  and  it  is  right  you  should 
hear  me.  I  was  born  in  Virginia,  and  have  lived  many  years  in  Missouri. 
I  am  a  slaveholder,  and  desire  Kansas  to  be  made  a  slave  State,  if  it  can 
be  done  by  honorable  means.  But  you  will  destroy  the  cause  you  are 
seeking  to  build  up.  You  have  taken  this  man,  who  was  peaceably 
passing  through  your  streets  and  along  the  public  highway,  and  doing 
no  person  any  harm.  We  profess  to  be  '  Law  and  Order '  men,  and 
ought  to  be  the  last  to  commit  violence.  If  this  man  has  broken  the 
law,  let  him  be  judged  according  to  law ;  but  for  the  sake  of  Missouri, 
for  the  sake  of  Kansas,  for  the  sake  of  the  pro-slavery  cause,  do  not 
act  in  this  way."  They  dragged  me  into  another  building,  and  ap- 
pointed a  moderator,  and  got  up  a  kind  of  lynch  law  trial.  Kelley 
told  his  story.  I  rose  to  my  feet,  and  calmly  and  in  respectful  language 
began  to  tell  mine ;  but  I  was  jerked  to  my  seat  and  so  roughly  handled 
that  I  was  compelled  to  desist.  My  friend  from  Missouri  again  earnestly 
besought  them  to  set  me  at  liberty.  Kelley  turned  short  on  him  and 
said:  "Do  you  belong  to  Kansas?  Judge  Tutt  replied:  "No;  but  I 
expect  to  live  here  in  Atchison  next  fall,  and  in  this  matter  the  interests 
of  Kansas  and  Missouri  are  identical."  Chester  Lamb,  a  lawyer  in 
Atchison,  and  Samuel  Dickson,  a  merchant  of  the  place,  both  pro- 
slavery  men,  also  united  with  Judge  Tutt  in  pleading  that  I  might  be  set 
at  liberty.  While  these  gentlemen  were  speaking,  I  heard  my  keepers 

mutter,  " .     If  you  don't  hush  up,  we  will  tar  and  feather  you." 

But  when  Kelley  saw  how  matters  stood,  he  came  forward  and  said  he 
"  did  not  take  Butler  to  have  him  hung,  but  only  tarred  and  feathered," 
Yet  in  the  saloon  he  had  sa  d  to  the  mob  :  "  You  shall  do  as  you  please." 
He  dared  not  take  the  responsibility  of  taking  my  life,  but  when  these 
unfortunate  men,  whose  one-idea-ism  on  the  subject  of  slavery  and 
Southern  rights  has  become  insanity — when  these  irresponsible  South 
Carolinians,  sent  out  to  be  bull  dogs  and  blood  hounds  for  Atchison  and 


IO8  PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS. 

Stringfellow — when  they  could  be  used  as  tools  to  take  my  life,  he  was 
ready  to  do  it. 

Our  gunpowder  moderator  cut  the  matter  short  by  saying,  "It  is 
moved  that  Butler  be  tarred  and  feathered  and  receive  thirty-nine 
lashes."  A  majority  said  "  Aye,"  though  a  number  of  voices  said  "  No." 
The  moderator  said,  "The  affirmative  has  it;  Butler  has  to  be  tarred 
and  feathered  and  whipped."  I  began  to  speculate  how  that  sort  of 
thing  would  work  as  far  north  as  the  latitude  of  Kansas.  There  was  a 
good  deal  of  whispering  about  the  house.  I  saw  dark,  threatening  and 
ominous  looks  in  the  crowd.  The  moderator  again  came  forward,  and, 
in  an  altered  voice,  said :  tl  It  is  moved  that  the  last  part  of  the  sentence  be 
rescinded."  It  was  rescinded,  and  I  was  given  into  the  hands  of  my 
South  Carolina  overseers  to  be  tarred  and  feathered.  They  muttered 
and  growled  at  this  issue  of  the  matter.  They  said,  "If  we  had  known 

it  would  come  out  in  this  way,  we  would  have  let shoot  Butler 

at  the  first.  He  would  have  done  it  quicker  than  a  flash."  One  little, 
sharp-visaged,  dark-featured  South  Carolinian,  who  seemed  to  be  the 
leader  of  the  gang,  was  particularly  displeased.  With  bitter  curses  he 
said,  "I  am  not  come  all  the  way  from  South  Carolina,  spending  so 
much  money  to  do  things  up  in  such  milk-and-water  style  as  this." 

They  stripped  me  naked  to  my  waist,  covered  my  body  with  tar, 
and  for  the  want  of  feathers  applied  cotton.  Having  appointed  a  com- 
mittee of  seven  to  certainly  hang  me  the  next  time  I  should  come  into 
Atchison,  they  tossed  my  clothes  into  my  buggy,  put  me  therein,  accom- 
panied me  to  the  outskirts  of  the  town,  and  sent  me  naked  out  upon 
the  prairie.  It  was  a  cold,  bleak  day.  I  adjusted  my  attire  about  me 
as  best  I  could,  and  hastened  to  rejoin  my  wife  and  little  ones  on  the 
banks  of  the  Stranger  Creek.  It  was  a  sorrowful  meeting  after  so  long 
a  parting,  still  we  were  very  thankful  that,  under  the  favor  of  a  good 
Providence,  it  had  fared  no  worse  with  us  all. 

Many  will  ask  now,  as  they  have  asked  already,  what  is  the  true 
and  proper  cause  of  all  these  troubles  I  have  had  in  Atchison  ?  I  have 
told  the  world  already  ;  I  can  only  repeat  my  own  words.  I  have  said, 
The  head  and  front  of  my  offending  hath  this  extent,  no  more :  I  had 
spoken  among  my  neighbors  favorably  to  making  Kansas  a  free  State, 
and  said  in  the  office  of  the  Squatter  Sovereign,  "I  am  a  Free-soiler,  and 
intend  to  vote  for  Kansas  to  be  a  free  State." 

Still  it  will  be  regarded  as  incredible  that  a  man  should  receive 
such  treatment  for  uttering  such  words  as  I  report  myself  to  have  uttered. 
The  matter  is  plain  enough  when  the  facts  are  understood. 

Prior  to  August  17,  1855,  there  was  no  Free-soil  party  organized  in 


PERSONAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

Atchison  county— perhaps  not  in  the  whole  Territory  of  Kansas.  Free- 
sellers  did  not  know  their  own  strength,  and  were  disposed  to  be  pru 
dent — some  were  timid.  Here  in  Atchison  county  we  determined  that 
if  the  Border  Ruffians  were  resolved  to  drive  matters  to  a  bloody  issue, 
the  responsibility  of  doing  so  should  rest  wholly  with  themselves. 
There  are  many  Free-soilers  in  this  county — brave  men — who  have  no 
conscientious  scruples  to  hinder  them  from  arming  themselves,  and  pre- 
paring to  repel  force  with  force.  The  Border  Ruffians  sought  by  a  sys- 
tem of  terrorism  so  to  intimidate  the  Free-soilers  as  to  prevent  them 
from  organizing  a  Free-soil  party,  or  even  discussing  the  subject  of 
freedom  and  slavery  in  Kansas.  They  carried  this  to  such  an  extent  of 
outrageous  violence  that  it  came  to  be  currently  reported  that  it  was  as 
much  as  a  man's  life  was  worth  to  say  in  the  town  of  Atchison,  "  I  am 
a  Free-soiler."  We  deprecated  violence,  and  wished  a  peaceful  discus- 
sion of  the  subject.  It  was  therefore  most  fitting  that  a  man  whose  pro- 
fession forbade  him  to  go  armed  should  put  to  the  test  of  actual  experi- 
ment whether  an  American  citizen  of  blameless  life  could  be  permitted 
to  enjoy  the  right  of  free  speech — the  privilege  of  expressing  views 
favorable  to  making  Kansas  a  free  State — such  views  being  uttered 
without  anything  of  angry,  abusive  or  insulting  language.  It  was  for 
this  purpose  the  above  words  were  spoken,  and  which  have  been  the 
cause  of  all  my  troubles  in  Atchison. 

If  there  is  any  class  of  men  who  stand  behind  the  curtain  and  pull 
the  wires,  we  would  respectfully  represent  to  them  that  it  will  do  no 
good  to  urge  these  understrappers  on  to  these  deeds  of  violence  and 
ruffianism.  We  are  not  a  class  of  men  to  utter  childish  complaints  at 
any  wrongs  we  may  suffer,  but  we  know  our  rights  and  intend  to  have 
them. 

Subscribing  myself  the  friend  of  all  good  and  civil  men,  whether 
North  or  South,  I  am  very  truly,  PARDEE  BUTLER. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

We  have  already  told  how  Sheriff  Jones  failed  to 
wipe  out  Lawrence  ;  how  Gov.  Shannon  patched  up  a 
peace,  and  how  that,  in  no  good  temper,  the  "  Law 
and  Order  "  party  returned  to  the  border.  But  imme- 
diately the  Free  State  party  gave  evidence  that  its 
spirit  had  not  been  broken.  A  convention  had  been 
called  to  meet  at  Topeka,  in  November,  1855,  to  frame 
a  free  State  Constitution,  and  this  was  ratified  at  an 
election  called  December  15  following,  1,731  votes  be- 
ing cast  in  its  favor,  the  election  having  been  held  only 
one  week  after  the  treaty  of  peace  had  been  made. 
Then  in  less  than  two  weeks  a  second  convention  was 
called  to  meet  at  Lawrence,  at  which  a  full  board  of 
State  officers  was  nominated,  the  election  having  been 
set  to  be  held  on  the  I5th  of  January. 

At  Leavenworth,  the  attempt  to  hold  the  election  re- 
sulted in  such  mobs  and  tumult  that  it  was  forbidden 
to  be  held  by  a  faint-hearted  Free  State  mayor,  and  was 
consequently  adjourned  to  Easton.  The  Free  State 
printing  press  of  Mark  Delahay  was,  during  these 
troubles,  destroyed.  At  Easton,  a  mob  undertook  to 
break  up  the  election,  but  was  driven  off,  and  in  the 
affray  one  of  the  attacking  party  named  Cook  was  mor- 
tally wounded.  Then  the  Kansas  Pioneer,  published 
at  Kickapoo,  made  an  inflammatory  appeal  to  the 
"  Law  and  Order"  party  to  rally  and  avenge  Cook's 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  Ill 

death,  and  in  an  answer  to  this  appeal  the  "  Kickapoo 
Rangers  "  and  Captain  Dunn's  company,  from  Leaven- 
worth,  in  all  about  fifty  men,  turned  out  to  go  to 
Easton  on  this  errand.  A  number  of  gentlemen  had 
gone  from  Leavenworth  to  Easton  to  attend  the  elec- 
tion, and  had  stayed  over  night,  among  whom  were  Cap. 
tain  R.  P.  Brown,  a  resident  of  Salt  Creek  Valley,  near 
Leavenworth.  Captain  B.  was  a  man  well  esteemed  in 
his  neighborhood,  and  was  a  member-elect  of  the  Leg- 
islature. Captain  Dunn  and  his  company  met  these 
men  returning  to  Leavenworth,  and  took  them  pris- 
oners, carrying  them  back  to  Easton.  Here  they  got 
up  a  sort  of  Lynch-law  trial  for  Captain  Brown,  but  the 
rabble  composing  Dunn's  company,  having  maddened 
themselves  with  drink,  broke  into  the  room  where  the 
trial  was  going  on,  seized  Captain  Brown,  who  was  un- 
armed and  helpless,  and  tortured  him  with  barbarity 
that  has  been  supposed  to  be  only  possible  among  sav- 
ages, and  then  threw  the  wounded  and  dying  man  into 
an  open  lumber  wagon,  in  which  they  hauled  him  home 
to  his  wife,  over  the  rough,  frozen  roads,  in  one  of  the 
coldest  nights  of  that  bitter  cold  January ;  stopping 
meantime  at  the  drinking-houses  by  the  way,  they  con- 
sumed seven  hours  in  making  the  journey.  His  wife 
became  insane  at  the  sight  of  her  butchered  and  dying 
husband,  thrown  into  the  door  by  these  brutal  wretches, 
and  was,  in  that  condition,  taken  to  her  brother  in 
Michigan.  All  this  was  testified  to,  with  every  minu- 
tia  of  detail,  before  the  Investigating  Committee. 

The  border  papers  were  aflame  with  appeals  to  the 
"Law  and  Order"  party  to  go  over  into  Kansas  and 
wipe  out  the  pestiferous  Free  State  men,  who  set  at 
naught  the  Territorial  Legislature.  The  following 


112  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

sample  of  these  appeals  we  extract  from  a  speech  made 
by  David  R.  Atchison,  at  Platte  City : 

They  held  an  election  on  the  i$th  of  last  month,  and  they  intend  to 
put  the  machinery  of  a  State  in  motion  on  the  4th  of  March,  /  say,  pre- 
pare yourselves  ;  go  over  there.  And  if  they  attempt  to  drive  you  out,  then 

drive  them  out.     Fifty  of  you  with  your  shot-guns  are  worth  two 

hundred  and  fifty  of  them  with  their  Sharpe's  rifles. 

Meanwhile  a  great  cry  of  wrongs  and  outrages 
against  the  Free  State  men  had  filled  the  whole  North, 
and  Congress  could  not  choose,  but  had  to  pay  atten- 
tion to  it.  Ex-Governor  Reeder  came  forward  and 
contested  the  seat  of  Mr.  Whitfield  as  Territorial  dele- 
gate to  Congress,  alleging  that  Mr.  W.  owed  his  elec- 
tion to  the  votes  of  men  not  residents  of  the  Territory. 
As  a  result,  a  Committee  of  Investigation  was  ap- 
pointed to  go  to  Kansas  to  take  testimony,  this  com- 
mittee being  composed  of  Sherman  of  Ohio,  How- 
ard, of  Michigan,  and  Oliver,  of  Missouri.  These 
took  an  immense  number  of  depositions,  which 
were  published  in  a  volume  of  more  than  1,200 
octavo  pages,  and  of  which  20,000  were  ordered 
to  be  printed.  This  investigating  committee  made  a 
majority  report  signed  by  Howard  and  Sherman,  in 
which  they  summed  up  their  conclusions  under  eight 
heads.  Of  these  we  shall  copy  four : 

MAJORITY    REPORT. 

1.  That  each  election  held  in  the  Territory  under  the  organic  or 
Territorial  law  has  been  carried  by  organized  invasion  from  the  State  of 
Missouri,  by  which  the  people  of  the  Territory  have  been  prevented  from 
exercising  the  rights  secured  to  them  by  the  organic  law. 

2.  That  the  alleged  Territorial  Legislature  was  an  illegally  constitu- 
ted body,  and  had  no  power  to  pass  valid  laws,  and  their  enactments  are 
therefore  null  and  void. 

3.  That  Andrew  H.  Reeder  received  a  greater  number  of  votes  of 
resident  citizens  than  John  W.  Whitfield  for  delegate, 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  113 

4.  That  in  the  present  condition  of  the  Territory  a  fair  election  can  not 
be  held  without  a  new  census,  a  stringent  and  well-guarded  election  law, 
the  selection  of  impartial  judges,  and  the  presence  of  United  States  troops 
at  every  election.  (Signed]  WM.  A.  HOWARD, 

JOHN  SHERMAN. 

Mr.  Oliver  made  a  minority  report,  summing  up 
his  conclusions  under  seven  heads.  From  this  we  shall 
copy  three : 

MINORITY  REPORT. 

1.  That  the  Territorial  Legislature  was  a  legally  constituted  body, 
and  had  power  to  pass  valid  laws,  and  their  enactments  were  therefore 
valid. 

2.  That  the  election  under  which  the  sitting  delegate,  John  W- 
Whitfield,  holds  his  seat  was  held  in  pursuance  of  valid  law,  and  should 
be  regarded  as  a  valid  election. 

3.  That  the  election  under  which  the  contesting  delegate,  Andrew 
H.  Reeder,  claims  his  seat,  was  not  held  under  any  law,  and  should  be 
wholly  disregarded  by  the  House.  (Signed)  M.  OLIVER. 

As  a  result,  Congress  permanently  unseated  Mr. 
Whitfield,  and  ordered  a  new  election,  thus  affirming 
the  conclusions  of  Howard  and  Sherman.  This  com- 
mittee began  its  work  in  April  and  ended  in  June. 

The  "  Law  and  Order  "  party  did  not,  however,  wait 
for  the  conclusion  of  these  proceedings  at  Washing- 
ton. Col.  Buford,  as  we  have  told  in  a  former  chap- 
ter, arrived  early  in  the  spring  with  his  company  of 
South  Carolinians,  and  Gen.  David  R.  Atchison  had 
gathered,  along  the  borders,  several  hundred  men  to 
make  a  second  raid  on  Lawrence.  These  all  marched 
to  Lecompton,  where  they  held  themselves  in  readiness 
to  act,  as  soon  as  a  pretext  could  be  found  invoking 
their  help. 

And  now  the  inevitable  Samuel  J.  Jones,  Sheriff  of 
Douglas  County,  again  put  in  an  appearance.  This 


114  PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS. 

time  it  was  to  arrest  Sam  Wood  for  the  rescue  of  Bran- 
son. Jones  arrested  Wood  on  the  streets  of  Law- 
rence. A  crowd  gathered  around,  and  in  the  jostling 
and  pushing  Jones  and  Wood  were  separated,  and 
Wood  walked  away.  No  threats  were  made,  and  no 
violence  used.  The  next  day  was  Sunday,  and  Jones 
again  appeared,  but  Sam  Wood  was  missing.  He  had 
stayed  that  night  at  the  house  of  the  writer,  in  Atchi- 
son  County,  being  then  on  his  way  to  the  free  States. 
Jones,  however,  had  writs  for  the  arrest  of  those  who 
had  been  the  occasion  of  Wood's  escape,  and  the 
Sheriff  called  on  some  of  the  church-going  people  to 
act  as  his  posse  in  making  his  arrests.  But  these  were 
of  "  the  most  straitest  sect  "  of  the  Puritans,  and  it  was 
contrary  to  their-  consciences  to  do  any  manner  of  car- 
nal work  on  the  Sabbath  day,  and  in  their  estimation 
this  was  exceedingly  carnal  work,  and  they  kept  their 
faces  set  as  if  they  would  go  to  the  synagogue.  Sam- 
uel F.  Tappan  was  one  of  the  Branson  rescuers,  and 
Jones  seized  Tappan  by  the  collar,  and  Tappan  struck 
Jones  in  the  face.  This  was  enough  ;  Jones  had  been 
resisted,  and  he  went  to  the  Governor  and  demanded  a 
posse  of  United  States  soldiers  to  aid  him  in  making  his 
arrest.  Thus  reinforced  with  a  detachment  of  United 
States  troops,  our  valorous  Sheriff  Jones  went  a  third 
time  and  arrested  without  resistance  six  respectable  cit- 
izens of  Lawrence,  on  a  charge  of  contempt  of  court, 
because  they  had  declined  to  break  the  Sabbath  in  aid- 
ing him  to  make  arrests  on  the  Lord's  day.  In  due 
course  of  law,  it  should  have  been  his  duty  to  take  his 
prisoners  before  a  magistrate,  and  allowed  them  to  give 
bail  to  appear  at  a  given  time  to  answer  for  this  alleged 
contempt.  But  Jones  elected  to  keep  his  prisoners 


PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS.  115 

without  bail,  and  to  act  as  his  own  jailer,  and  so  he  en- 
camped in  a  tent  on  the  prairie,  using  these  United 
States  soldiers  as  his  guard.  This  was  a  manifest  bait 
to  the  people  of  Lawrence  to  attempt  a  rescue,  but 
they  did  not  walk  into  the  trap,  and  so  these  prisoners 
slept  on  the  prairie,  and  their  wives  slept  at  home  be- 
reaved of  their  husbands.  Somebody  shot  Jones.  It 
is  presumed  that  somebody  thought  he  ought  to  be 
shot,  but  it  was  as  great  a  calamity  to  Lawrence  as 
was  the  rescue  of  Branson.  The  people  of  Lawrence 
removed  Jones  to  the  Free  State  hotel,  showed  every 
sympathy  they  could  show,  and  offered  a  reward  of 
$500  for  the  apprehension  of  the  assassin.  Notwith- 
standing, all  Western  Missouri  was  immediately  aflame 
with  appeals  to  the  people  to  come  to  the  rescue,  and 
avenge  the  death  of  the  murdered  Jones.  But  the  pa- 
pers making  these  appeals  did  not  publish  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  indignation  meeting  held  at  Lawrence,  nor 
did  they  tell  that  a  reward  had  been  offered  for  the  ap- 
prehension of  the  assassin,  nor  did  they  tell  that  Jones' 
wound  was  so  slight  that  he  was  able  to  be  removed 
the  next  day  to  Franklin. 

Meanwhile  a  conspiracy  was  hatched  at  Lecompton, 
in  which  Chief  Justice  Lecompte  was  the  chief  conspir- 
ator, to  arrest  the  leading  Free  State  men  on  a  charge 
of  treason,  and  keep  them  prisoners  without  bail,  and 
thus  smother  out  the  Free  State  movement.  James  F. 
Legati  was  one  of  the  United  States  grand  jurors,  and  vio- 
lated his  oath  of  secrecy  and  made  a  night  journey  to 
give  warning  to  the  men  that  were  to  be  made  victims  to 
this  conspiracy.  Gov.  Charles  Robinson  fled  down  the 
Missouri  River,  but  was  detained  at  Lexington,  was 
brought  back  under  charge  of  treason,  and  placed  in 


Il6  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

confinement  at  Lecompton ;  others  fled  the  Territory, 
and  Lawrence  was  left  to  fight  its  battles  with  its  old 
leaders  gone.  According  to  the  purpose  of  this  conspir- 
acy a  large  number  of  Free  State  men  were  indicted  for 
high  treason  ;  and  the  Free  State  hotel  and  the  two 
printing  presses  were  returned  by  the  Grand  Jury  as 
nuisances,  and  as  such  were  by  Judge  Lccompte 
ordered  to  be  destroyed.  Immediately  following  Le- 
gati's  nocturnal  visit,  Ex-Governor  Reeder  received  a 
summons  at  the  hands  of  Deputy  Marshal  Fain  to  ap- 
pear at  Lecompton  as  a  witness.  Mr.  Reeder  declined 
to  obey  the  summons.  The  next  day  a  writ  was  served 
on  him  to  appear  on  a  charge  of  "contempt  of  court " 
for  not  having  appeared  as  a  witness.  Mr.  Reeder  re- 
fused to  submit  to  the  arrest  for  two  reasons — first, 
that  his  life  would  be  in  danger;  second,  he  plead  his 
privilege  of  exemption  from  arrest  because  he  was  a 
member-elect  of  Congress.  Then  United  States  Mar- 
shal Donaldson  issued  the  following 

PROCLAMATION. 

WHEREAS,  Certain  judicial  arrests  have  been  directed  to  me  by  the 
First  District  Court  of  the  United  States,  etc.,  to  be  executed  within  the 
county  of  Douglas,  and 

WHEREAS,  The  attempt  to  execute  them  by  the  United  States  Dep- 
uty Marshal  was  evidently  resisted  by  a  large  number  of  people  of  Law- 
rence, and  as  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  any  attempt  to  execute 
these  writs  will  be  resisted  by  a  large  body  of  armed  men  ;  now,  there- 
fore, the  law-abiding  citizens  of  the  Territory  are  commanded  to  be  and 
appear  at  Lecompton  as  soon  as  practicable,  and  in  numbers  sufficient  to 
execute  the  law. 

Given  under  my  hand  this  nth  day  of  May,  1856. 

J.  B.  DONALDSON, 
U.  S.  Marshal  of  the  Territory  of  Kansas. 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  1 1/ 

On  receipt  of  this  proclamation  the  citizens  of  Law- 
rence called  a  public  meeting  and  adopted  the  follow- 
ing preamble  and  resolution  : 

WHEREAS,  By  a  proclamation  to  the  people  of  Kansas  Territory,  by 
J.  B.  Donaldson,  it  is  alleged  that  certain  judicial  writs  of  arrest  have 
been  directed  to  him  by  the  First  District  Court  of  the  United  States, 
etc.,  to  be  executed  within  the  county  of  Douglas,  and  that  an  attempt  to 
execute  them  was  evidently  resisted  by  a  large  number  of  the  citizens  of 
Lawrence,  aad  that  there  is  every  raason  to  believe  that  an  attempt  to 
execute  said  writs  will  be  resisted  by  a  large  body  of  armed  men ;  there- 
fore, 

Resolved,  By  this  public  meeting  of  the  citizens  of  Lawrence,  that 
the  allegations  and  charges  against  us,  contained  in  the  aforesaid  procla- 
mationj  are  wholly  untrue  in  fact  and  in  the  conclusion  which  is  drawn  from 
them.  The  aforesaid  Marshal  was  resisted  in  no  manner  whatever,  nor 
by  any  person  whatever,  in  the  execution  of  said  writs,  except  by  him 
whose  arrest  the  Deputy  Marshal  was  seeking  to  make.  And  that  we 
now,  as  we  have  done  heretofore,  declare  our  willingness  and  determina- 
tion, without  resistance,  to  acquiesce  in  the  service  upon  us  ol  any  judi- 
cial writs  against  us  by  the  United  States  Deputy  Marshal,  and  will  fur- 
nish him  with  a  posse  for  that  purpose,  if  so  requested ;  but  that  we  are 
ready  to  resist,  if  need  be,  unto  death,  the  ravages  and  desolation  of  an 
invading  mob. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

Before  Marshal  Donaldson  had  issued  the  procla- 
mation copied  in  our  last  chapter,  the  citizens  of  Law- 
rence had  forwarded  to  Gov.  Shannon  the  following: 

WHEREAS,  We  have  most  reliable  information  of  the  organization 
of  guerrilla  bands,  who  threaten  the  destruction  of  our  town  and  its 
citizens;  therefore 

Resolved,  That  Messrs.  Topliff,  Hutchingson  and  Roberts  constitute 
a  committee  to  inform  His  Excellency  of  these  facts,  and  to  call  upon 
him,  in  the  name  of  the  people  of  Lawrence,  for  protection  against 
such  bands  by  the  United  States  troops  at  his  disposal. 

To  this  the  Governor  made  the  following  reply: 

EXECUTIVE  OFFICE,  May  12,  1856. 

GENTLEMEN:  Your  note  of  the  nth  inst.  is  received,  and  in  reply 
I  have  to  state  that  there  is  no  force  around  or  approaching  Lawrence, 
except  the  largely  constituted  posse  of  the  United  States  Marshal  and 
Sheriff  of  Douglas  county,  each  of  whom,  I  am  informed,  has  a  num- 
ber of  writs  in  his  hands  for  execution  against  persons  in  Lawrence. 
I  shall  in  no  way  interfere  with  these  officers  in  the  discharge  of  their 
official  duties. 

If  the  citizens  of  Lawrence  submit  themselves  to  the  Territorial 
laws,  and  aid  and  assist  the  Marshal  and  the  Sheriff  in  the  execution  of 
processes  in  their  hands,  as  all  good  citizens  are  bound  to  do  when 
called  upon,  they  will  entitle  themselves  to  the  protection  of  the  law. 
But  so  long  as  they  keep  up  a  military  or  armed  organization  to  resist 
the  Territorial  laws  and  the  officers  charged  with  their  execution,  I  shall 
not  interpose  to  save  them  from  the  legitimate  consequences  of  their 
illegal  acts. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  the  notabilities  that  were 
in  command  of  the  army  that  was  to  serve  as  the  posse 

118 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  Ilg 

of  Marshal  Donaldson,  David  R.  Atchison  in  com- 
mand of  the  Platte  county  riflemen  of  Missouri ;  Capt. 
Dunn,  of  the  Kickapoo  Rangers ;  Gen.  B.  F.  String 
fellow,  Robert  S.  Kelley  and  Peter  T.  Abell  having 
charge  of  the  recruits  from  Atchison ;  Col.  Wilkes,  oi 
South  Carolina;  Col.  Titus,  of  Florida;  Col.  Boone, 
of  Westport,  Mo.,  and  Col.  Buford,  of  South  Carolina. 
More  than  three-fourths  of  this  army  was  composed 
of  non-residents  of  Kansas. 

A  third  time  the  citizens  of  Lawrence  called  a  pub- 
lic meeting,  and  this  time  they  appeal  to  Marshal  Don- 
aldson. They  say,  "  We  beg  leave  to  ask  respectfully, 
what  are  the  demands  against  us  ?"  They  repeat  their 
oft-repeated  assurance  that  they  will  submit  to  ar- 
rests, and  demand  protection  against  the  gathering 
mob  from  the  men  representing  the  authority  of  the 
General  Government.  Marshal  Donaldson  only  re- 
plied with  jeers  and  insults.  The  people  of  Lawrence 
were  indeed  in  evil  case. 

The  beleagured  citizens  saw  themselves  shut  in  by 
armed  bands,  engaged  in  murder,  robbery,  and  plun- 
der; and  this  time  they  appealed  to  the  Investigating 
Committee,  now  gone  to  Leavenworth ;  but  that  com- 
mittee had  no  power  to  help  them.  Col.  Sumner  could 
not  help  them,  unless  the  Governor  should  speak  the 
word ;  and  Shannon  was  dumb. 

Lane  had  gone  East ;  Robinson  was  a  prisoner ; 
Ex-Gov.  Reeder  had  fled,  disguised  as  a  common 
laborer ;  and  others  were  in  hiding ;  and  perforce  the 
management  of  affairs- had  to  be  given  into  the  hands 
of  new  men.  A  Committee  of  Public  Safety  was 
chosen,  and  this  committee  determined  on  a  policy  of 
abject  submission  and  non-resistance.  A  committee 


I2O  PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS. 

of  volunteers  from  Topeka  offered  their  assistance,  but 
were  told :  "  We  do  not  want  you."  Pusillanimous  as 
Gov.  Shannon  was,  he  found  he  had  a  man  to  deal 
with  more  pusillanimous  than  himself,  in  the  person  of 
S.  C.  Pomeroy,  chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Public 
Safety.  Citizens  of  Lawrence  left  in  unspeakable  dis- 
gust. The  people  of  the  Territory  looked  on  in  amaze- 
ment. The  boys  jeeringly  called  the  Committee  of 
Public  Safety  "The  Committee  of  the  Public  Safety 
Valve/' 

The  writer  had  given  his  testimony  before  the  In- 
vestigating Committee  while  they  were  yet  in  Law- 
rence. A  number  of  South  Carolinians  had  been 
present  while  this  testimony  was  being  given,  and  they 
had  protested  in  a  towering  rage,  ' '  We  will  shoot 
Butler  on  sight."  It  was  evident  the  town  had  to  be 
given  up  to  the  tender  mercies  of  this  mob  of  ruffians. 
There  was  nothing  to  be  gained  by  remaining,  and  the 
writer,  sick  at  heart,  went  back  to  Atchison  county ; 
but  he  afterwards  returned  to  see  the  blackened  ruins 
of  the  desolated  town. 

On  May  2ist  the  monster  fosse,  led  on  by  Marshal 
Donaldson  and  Deputy  Marshal  Fain,  gathered  around 
the  doomed  city.  The  town  was  quiet — unusually  so. 
Deputy  Marshal  Fain  went  into  the  city  and  arrested 
G.  W.  Deitzler,  G.  W.  Smith  and  Gains  Jenkins,  on 
the  charge  of  treason.  The  Marshal  went  to  the  Free 
State  hotel,  that  they  were  soon  to  batter  down,  and 
got  his  dinner,  and  went  away  without  paying  for  it. 
And  now  the  opportune  moment  had  arrived  for  the 
final  denouement.  Sheriff  Jones  —  the  mourned  and 
lost  and  murdered  and  much-lamented  Sheriff  Jones — 
whose  tragic  death  had  fired  the  hearts  of  all  the  Mis- 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  121 

souri  border,  now  put  in  an  appearance  and  showed 
himself  a  mighty  lively  corpse,  and  led  his  posse  into 
the  town.  The  flag  of  the  lone  star  of  South  Caro- 
lina, blood-red,  and  on  which  was  inscribed  the  motto, 
"Southern  Rights,"  floated  beside  the  Stars  and 
Stripes.  The  monster  posse,  with  loaded  cannon, 
marched  into  the  city  and  in  front  of  the  Free  State 
hotel,  and  the  "  Committee  of  the  Public  Safety 
Valve  "  was  called  for.  Mr.  Pomeroy  came  forward 
and  shook  hands  with  Sheriff  Jones — should  not  gentle- 
men shake  hands  when  they  meet  ?  Sheriff  Jones  de- 
manded the  arms  of  the  people,  otherwise  he  would 
bombard  the  town.  Mr.  Pomeroy  went  and  dug  up 
the  cannon  that  had  been  buried,  and  surrendered  it  to 
Jones.  But  further  than  this  he  could  not  go:  the 
people  had  their  arms,  and  intended  to  keep  tltem.  Then 
they  tried  to  batter  down  the  Free  State  hotel  with  can- 
non. Failing  in  this,  they  tried  to  blow  it  up  with 
powder;  and,  failing  in  that,  they  burned  it  down. 
They  also  destroyed  the  two  printing  presses,  burning 
the  buildings,  and  then  sacked  the  town. 

Sheriff  Jones  was  beside  himself  with  joy.  In 
frantic  excitement  he  said,  ' '  I  have  done  it !  I  have 
done  it !  This  is  the  happiest  moment  of  my  life !  I 
determined  to  make  the  fanatics  bow  before  me  in  the 
dust  and  kiss  the  Territorial  laws,  and  I  have  done  it ! 
The  writs  have  been  executed.  Boys,  you  are  dis- 
missed." It  will  be  doing  Senator  David  R.  Atchison, 
Ex-Vice-President  of  the  United  States,  a  kindness  to 
conclude  simply  that  he  was  drunk,  otherwise  he  dis- 
played utter  savagery  and  barbarism.  He  inculcated 
gallantry  to  ladies,  but  said  :  "  If  you  find  any  woman 
with  arms  in  her  hands,  tread  her  under  foot  as  you 


122  PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS. 

would  a  snake."  The  Caucassian  white  woman  of 
Lawrence  had  no  more  rights  of  self-protection  than 
the  slaves  of  a  South  Carolina  rice  plantation — they 
were  wholly  and  absolutely  at  the  mercy  of  their  mas- 
ters! 

We  have  no  comments  to  make  on  the  work  of  this 
drunken  rabble ;  but  there  is  one  man  that  must  be 
held  to  a  terrible  responsibility  before  the  judgment- 
seat  of  posterity.  Gov.  Wilson  Shannon  was  not 
drunk  :  and  it  is  to  be  presumed  he  had  read  that  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States  which  he  had  so  often 
sworn  to  support.  He  knew,  therefore,  that  this  docu- 
ment stipulates : 

1.  "That  the  right  of  the  people  to  keep  and  bear 
arms  shall  not  be  infringed ;"  yet  he   showed   a  fixed 
purpose  to  deprive  the  Lawrence  people  of  their  arms. 

2.  The  Governor  knew  that  the  Constitution  guar- 
antees "freedom  of  speech  and  of  the  press"  to  the 
American  people ;  yet  the  burning  of  these  printing 
presses  was  an  attack  on  the  freedom  of  the  press. 

3.  The  Constitution  guarantees  that  "in  all  crimi- 
nal prosecutions  the  accused  shall  enjoy  the  right  to  a 
speedy  and  public  trial."     Property  of  large  value  was 
destroyed  because  its  owners  were  charged  with  high 
crimes  and   misdemeanors ;    yet   the   owners    of  this 
property  had  never  been  given  a  trial. 

4.  Gov.  Shannon  alleged  that  it  was  treasonable  for 
the  people  of  Kansas  Territory  to  frame  a  State  Con- 
stitution without  an  enabling   act  from   Congress ;  yet 
California  had  done  this  very  thing,  and   under  that 
Constitution  had  been  admitted  as  a  State. 

5.  He  treated  the  Free  State  men   as  traitors,  be- 
cause they  would  not  admit  the  legality  of  the  Lecomp- 


PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS.  123 

ton  Territorial  Legislature.  But  the  majority  of  the 
Investigating  Committee  held  the  same  view  with  the 
Lawrence  people,  and  Congress  affirmed  the  same 
judgment  in  permanently  unseating  Mr.  Whitfield  as 
Territorial  delegate  to  Congress. 

Would  that  men  could  remember  that  there  is  a 
hereafter ;  that  to-morrow  forever  sits  in  judgment  on 
to-day.  There  are  three  men  most  conspicuous  in  the 
sacking  of  Lawrence.  Let  us  look  at  them  in  the 
electric  light  of  the  awful  to-morrow.  Since  the  Kansas 
struggle  had  begun  David  R.  Atchison  had  made  him- 
self the  most  conspicuous  figure.  He  was  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  John  C.  Calhoun  school  of  Southern 
politics,  and  from  the  hour  of  the  destruction  of  Law- 
rence he  was  to  disappear  from  public  view,  as  abso- 
lutely as  that  Free  State  hotel  which  was  burned  by  his 
orders  ;  yet  he  did  not  die — he  was  simply  buried  alive 
out  of  the  public  sight.  He  was  done  with  the  nation, 
and  the  nation  was  done  with  him.  He  went  back 
and  lived  on  his  plantation  in  Western  Missouri,  where 
he  was  forgotten.  It  is  said  he  loved  his  slaves  so 
well,  and  petted  them  so  much,  that  they  became 
masters  on  the  plantation,  and  not  himself.  He  lived 
to  see  Kansas  a  free  State,  with  almost  a  million  of 
inhabitants,  and  fairly  taking  the  lead  of  Missouri  in 
the  elements  of  education,  enterprise,  and  the  highest 
civilization. 

We  have  seen  the  crawling  servility  with  which 
Gov.  Shannon  served  the  * '  Law  and  Order "  party ; 
yet  in  less  than  three  months  he  was  to  see  his  office  as 
Governor  go  up  in  smoke,  as  these  burning  buildings 
had  gone  up  in  smoke.  Mr.  S.  became  frantic  when 
he  saw  the  carnival  of  bloodshed  and  murder,  of  riot 


124  PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS. 

and  robbery,  that  had  been  brought  about  by  his 
means.  Dr.  Gihon,  the  incoming  Gov.  Geary's  pri- 
vate secretary,  reported  that  Mr.  Shannon  fled  the 
Territory  in  fear  of  his  life.  When  the  troubles  were 
over  he  came  to  Kansas  and  sought  the  pity  and  for- 
giveness of  that  city  he  had  turned  over  to  the  tender 
mercies  of  a  mob  of  ruffians.  It  need  not  be  said  that 
he  could  have  done  no  better,  for  his  successor,  Gov. 
Geary,  had  only  to  speak  a  word  and  this  tumult  of 
disorder  was  instantly  hushed. 

As  the  years  went  by  the  people  could  not  believe 
that  a  man  that  displayed  so  many  good  and  amiable 
qualities  could  have  been  a  party  to  such  outrages  as 
characterized  his  administration.  He  died  in  Lawrence 
very  much  respected. 

Sheriff  Samuel  J.  Jones  strutted  his  brief  hour 
on  this  stage  in  which  the  play  had  been  both  a  blood- 
curdling tragedy  and  a  comedy ;  and  now  he  was  to 
step  down  and  out.  In  the  last  act  he  had  said,  '  '  / 
have  done  it!"  And  he  had  done  it!  He  and  his  fellow 
conspirators,  whether  of  high  or  low  degree,  had  set 
in  operation  a  train  of  causes  that  should  issue  in 
abolishing  throughout  the  United  States  that  institu- 
tion of  slavery  they  had  so  frantically  sought  to  estab- 
lish in  Kansas. 

Joseph  said  to  his  brethren,  "You  meant  it  for 
evil,  but  the  Lord  meant  it  for  good."  Sheriff  Jones 
and  his  fellow  conspirators  were  in  the  Lord's  hands,  but 
they  did  not  know  it. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

When  the  news  came  of  the  sacking  of  Lawrence, 
the  great  mass  of  the  squatters  had  not  yet  lost  faith 
in  the  nation,  nor  had  they  lost  hope  that  justice  would 
be  done,  tardy  though  it  might  be ;  but  the  utmost 
limits  of  human  endurance  were  fast  being  reached. 
There  were,  however,  many  that  had  already  gone  be- 
yond this  point,  and  they  returned  an  answer  that 
made  the  hearts  of  the  people  stand  still  with  horror. 
It  was  the  answer  of  a  wild  beast  that  had  been  hunted 
to  its  lair,  and  that  turns  with  savage  ferocity  on  its 
pursuers.  It  was  an  answer  framed  not  in  words,  but  in 
deeds.  It  said,  ' '  We  have  come  to  an  end.  We  have 
been  robbed  of  the  rights  guaranteed  to  us  by  the 
Kansas-Nebraska  bill.  We  have  been  robbed  of  the 
rights  of  American  citizens.  We  have  been  given  the 
alternative  of  abject  and  degrading  submission  or  of 
extermination.  And  now  we  make  our  answer.  We 
will  return  blow  for  blow,  wound  for  wound,  stripe  for 
stripe,  and  burning  for  burning.  Murder  shall  be  paid 
back  with  murder,  robbery  with  robbery ;  and  every 
act  of  aggression  shall  be  paid  back  with  swift  and 
terrible  retaliation."  It  must  be  remembered  that  at 
that  time  news  traveled  slow,  and  that  it  was  slow  work 
to  take  men  from  their  ordinary  farm  life  and  organize 
them  into  bands  of  soldiers,  and  it  was  some  days  be- 
fore "Old  John  Brown,  of  Osawatomie,"  appeared  01, 

"5 


126  PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS. 

the  scene  of  conflict  with  a  company  of  men.  Of  this 
company  his  son,  John  Brown,  Jr.,  was  captain.  But 
the  "old  man  "  had  come  too  late.  He  was  terribly 
excited,  and  denounced  as  a  set  of  cowards  the  "Com- 
mittee of  the  Public  Safety  Valve  "  that  had  dug  up 
the  hidden  cannon  and  had  surrendered  it  to  Sheriff 
Jones.  Captain  Brown  and  his  company  determined 
to  return.  Old  John  Brown  selected  a  squad  of  six 
men  to  go  on  a  secret  expedition.  Of  these,  four 
were  his  own  sons,  and  one  was  his  son-in-law.  His 
son,  Captain  Brown,  was  unwilling  that  his  father 
should  go,  and  when  the  old  man  would  not  be  per- 
suaded, he  cautioned  him,  "  Father,  don't  do  anything 
rash."  "Old  John  Brown"  took  old  man  Doyle  and 
two  sons  and  two  other  men  in  the  dead  hour  of  night 
and  put  them  to  death.  The  facts  of  this  awful  deed 
have  never  been  made  public — there  has  never  been  a 
judicial  investigation.  It  is  said  that  Doyle  and  his 
sons  were  desperate  characters,  and  were  in  the  act  of 
driving  off  Free  State  men ;  but  nothing  is  certainly 
known. 

And  now  it  appeared  that  the  whole  country  south 
of  the  Kaw  River  was  full  of  armed  Free  State  guerrilla 
bands.  They  rose  up  out  of  the  earth  as  if  they  had 
been  specters — their  blows  were  swift,  terrible  and  re- 
morseless. They  visited  and  robbed  the  houses  of 
Pro-slavery  men,  as  the  houses  of  the  Free  State  men 
had  been  visited  and  robbed.  They  stole  the  Pro- 
slavery  men's  horses,  stopped  them  on  the  public 
highways,  and  repeated  in  every  detail  and  in  every 
act  of  violence  the  cruel  atrocities  that  had  been  so 
long  perpetrated  on  themselves.  They  showed  no 
partiality — if  they  stole  the  horses  of  Pro-slavery  men, 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  I2/ 

they  also  stole  Gov.  Shannon's  horses,  and  the  Governor 
posted  over  the  country  with  a  squad  of  soldiers  to 
find  them.  The  town  of  Franklin,  six  miles  from 
Lawrence,  that  had  been  a  rendezvous  for  the  "Law 
and  Order"  robbers,  and  out  of  which  they  issued  to 
visit  Free  State  settlers'  houses,  rob  Free  State  men  on 
the  public  highway  and  make  raids  on  Lawrence,  was 
cleaned  out.  H.  Clay  Pate,  leader  of  a  "Law  and 
Order"  company  of  militia,  went  to  hunt  John  Brown 
and  put  him  to  death  as  he  would  go  to  hunt  a  wild 
beast.  An  African  lion  hunter,  when  questioned,  ' '  Is 
it  not  fine  sport  to  hunt  lions?"  replied,  "Yes,  it  is 
fine  sport  to  hunt  lions,  but  if  the  lion  hunts  you  it  is 
not  so  fine."  H.  Clay  Pate  went  to  hunt  the  lion,  and 
found  the  lion  was  hunting  him.  John  Brown  attacked 
Pate  with  an  inferior  force,  dispersed  his  command, 
and  took  him  prisoner,  together  with  twenty-eight  of 
his  men,  and  kept  them  in  an  inaccessible  fastness 
which  he  made  his  hiding  place.  A  number  of  Pro- 
slavery  men  fled  from  the  Territory,  telling  everywhere 
a  blood-curdling  story  of  hard  and  cruel  treatment. 
The  people  of  the  State  of  Missouri  were  filled  with 
rage  and  horror,  and  its  presses  groaned  with  fran- 
tic appeals  to  the  people  to  rise  in  their  might 
and  avenge  the  blood  of  their  murdered  brethren. 
Hitherto  they  had  witnessed  with  perfect  composure 
the  savage  butchery  of  the  Free  State  men,  and  the 
outrage  of  Free  State  families  ;  but  now  the  case  was 
bravely  altered.  It  was  their  ox  that  was  being 
gored. 

Gov.  Shannon  passed  as  usual  from  the  extreme  of 
insolence  to  the  extreme  of  helpless  imbecility,  and 
called  on  Col.  Sumner  to  come  forward  and  put  a  stop 


128  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

to  this  riot  of  confusion,  blood-shedding  and  violence. 
The  Governor  really  wanted  Col.  S.  to  disarm  only  the 
Free  State  guerrillas ;  but  Mr.  S.  made  a  more  liberal 
interpretation  of  his  orders,  and  proceeded  to  disarm  all 
armed  bands  in  the  Territory.  He  visited  Old  John 
Brown's  hiding  place,  told  him  he  must  consider  him- 
self under  arrest,  and  intimated  to  Deputy  Marshal 
Fain  that  he  was  at  liberty  to  arrest  these  men,  who 
were  under  charge  of  murder.  But  the  Marshal  replied 
that  he  had  no  arrests  to  make.  Marshal  Fain  had  no 
stomach  for  the  business  of  lion  hunting.  It  is  said 
that  Col.  S.  gave  Marshal  Fain  a  piece  of  his  mind 
that  was  more  explicit  than  polite. 

Col.  Sumner  ordered  John  Brown  to  give  up  his 
prisoners,  and  disband  his  men.  John  Brown  expostu- 
lated with  him,  that  it  was  not  right  to  require  him  to 
do  this,  while  the  country  was  full  of  armed  bands  of 
Pro-slavery  militia  and  guerrillas.  Col.  S.  agreed  to 
disband  and  disarm  all  companies  of  persons  armed, 
and  then  John  Brown  agreed  to  comply  with  his  re- 
quests. Gen.  Whitfield  was  in  the  vicinity,  and  at  the 
request  of  Col.  S.  agreed  to  remove  his  men  from  the 
Territory;  but  while  doing  this  they  continued  the 
business  of  riot,  robbery  and  murder. 

Thus  wearily  passed  the  month  of  June  of  1856, 
on  the  south  bank  of  the  Kaw  River.  The  coming 
Fourth  of  July  was  looked  forward  to  with  intense  in- 
terest by  both  parties,  and  on  the  north  side  of  the 
Kaw  River,  as  well  as  on  its  south  side.  The  Fourth 
of  July  was  the  day  on  which  the  Legislature,  elected 
under  the  Free  State  Constitution,  was  to  meet  at  To- 
peka ;  and  on  that  day,  and  at  that  place,  a  mass  con- 
vention of  all  the  Free  State  men  in  Kansas  had  also 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

been  called  to  meet  and  agree  on  their  future  policy. 
Col.  Sumner  had  at  least  done  this  good  service,  that 
the  highways  were  clear,  and  traveling  was  safe ;  but 
not  knowing  what  might  happen,  the  men  generally 
carried  their  muskets  hidden  in  their  wagons.  The 
writer  of  these  "  Recollections  "  went  to  Topeka  with 
the  Free  State  men  of  Atchison  county.  At  this  con- 
vention it  appeared  that  there  was  the  greatest  possi- 
ble divergence  of  judgment  as  to  the  best  policy  for 
the  Free  State  party  to  pursue.  There  was  nothing  of 
the  noise  and  bluster  that  characterizes  a  drunken 
mob ;  they  were  sober  and  quiet  men ;  nevertheless, 
they  evidently  labored  under  an  intense  and  burning 
excitement.  Some  were  for  war,  bloody,  relentless 
and  unforgiving  war;  others  advised  a  more  pacific 
policy.  If  the  reader  can  imagine  the  savage  deter- 
mination with  which  the  old  Scotch  Covenanters  turned 
at  bay  when  hunted  into  their  mountain  fastnesses  by 
their  bloody  persecutors,  then  he  will  have  some  idea 
of  the  spirit  that  animated  a  great  part  of  that  assem- 
bly. Two  companies  of  soldiers,  handsomely  equipped, 
armed  and  drilled,  one  from  Topeka  and  one  from 
Lawrence,  were  drawn  up  in  front  of  the  Topeka 
House,  where  the  Free  State  Legislature  was  to  meet. 
It  is  probable  that  this  crowd  of  men  assembled  at  this 
convention  could  have  laid  their  hands  on  five  hun- 
dred muskets  hidden  away  in  their  wagons,  in  ten 
minutes. 

Meanwhile  Col.  Sumner  had  quietly  drawn  up  his 
company  of  dragoons  just  outside  of  the  crowd.  In 
front  of  the  dragoons  were  two  loaded  cannon,  and  by 
them  grimly  stood  soldiers  with  burning  fuse.  While 
the  members  of  the  convention  were  discussing  among 


I3O  PERSONAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

themselves  their  proper  policy,  United  States  Marshal 
Donaldson  came  forward,  accompanied  by  Judge  El- 
more,  and  taking  possession  of  the  stand  from  which 
the  speakers  were  addressing  the  people,  Judge  El- 
rnore  read  a  proclamation  from  the  President  and  from 
acting  Gov.  Woodson,  commanding  the  Legislature  to 
disperse. 

To  this  Col.  Sumner  had  appended  the  following 
note :  ' '  The  proclamation  of  the  President  and  the 
orders  under  it  require  me  to  sustain  the  Executive  of 
the  Territory  in  executing  the  laws  and  preserving  the 
peace.  I  therefore  hereby  announce  that  I  shall  main- 
tain the  proclamation  at  all  hazards." 

This  act  of  Marshal  Donaldson  was  fiercely  de- 
nounced as  an  impertinent  intermedding  with  other 
men's  business.  The  general  drift  of  the  reasoning 
was  as  follows  :  ' '  Our  act  in  framing  a  constitution 
and  in  electing  a  legislature  is  not  treasonable  nor  revo- 
lutionary. There  is  no  law  against  it :  consequently 
we  are  breaking  no  law.  It  is,  moreover,  something 
that  has  to  be  done  at  some  time  by  the  majority  of 
the  citizens  of  this  Territory,  and  we  hope  to  be  able 
to  convince  Congress  and  the  President  that  we  are 
that  majority.  If  we  had  undertaken  to  set  in  opera- 
tion a  government  in  contravention  to  the  one  now  rec- 
oganized  by  the  President,  then  might  there  have  been 
some  apology  for  this  interference  ;  but  we  have  done 
nothing  of  the  kind." 

The  writer  will  say  to  the  reader  that  Gov.  Walker, 
an  ex -Senator  from  Mississippi,  and  the  ablest  Gover- 
nor Kansas  ever  had,  admitted  afterwards  that  this 
reasoning  of  the  Kansas  squatters  was  perfectly  cor- 
rect. But  however  this  might  be,  here  was  a  patent 


PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS.  131 

fact.  Here  was  Col.  Sumner  with  his  United  States 
dragoons,  and  he  was  a  man  to  obey  orders  ;  and  what 
were  we  going  to  do  about  it?  Should  we  fight,  or 
should  we  not  fight?  The  writer  submitted  the  fol- 
lowing resolution  : 

Resolved,  That  this  Convention  expresses  its  determination  not  to 
resist  the  United  States  troops. 

The  resolution  was  carried,  and  a  committee  was 
sent  to  Col.  Sumner  to  inform  him  of  its  adoption. 
His  answer  was  one  to  draw  the  hearts  of  the  people 
to  himself:  "I  knew,"  said  he,  "that  you  were  loyal 
to  the  old  flag." 

Our  readers  will  be  incredulous  that  such  a  resolu- 
tion should  be  needed,  or  that  there  should  be  any 
division  of  sentiment  as  touching  its  adoption.  It  is  for 
this  reason  we  call  this  incident  up.  It  is  that  the 
reader  may  understand  how  strained  was  the  state  of 
feeling  of  many  of  the  Free  State  men.  They  had 
spent  the  past  months  fighting,  and  they,  in  their  own 
minds,  associated  the  United  States  troops  with  the 
oppressors  of  Kansas  Free  State  men. 

When  Mr.  Sumner  went  into  the  Legislative  hall  to 
disperse  the  Legislature,  he  spoke  as  tenderly  as  a 
woman.  He  said:  "Gentlemen,  this  is  the  most 
painful  act  of  my  life  But  I  must  obey  orders,  and 
you  must  disperse."  When  he  wheeled  his  dragoons 
to  march  away  the  boys  cheered  Col.  Sumner.  They 
cheered  the  old  flag  and  the  United  States  soldiers, 
but  they  gave  such  groans  for  the  Lecompton 
Legislature  as,  it  was  said,  frightened  the  dragoons' 
horses. 

There  was  now  no  further  cause  that  the  writer 


132  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

should  tarry  longer,  and  he  immediately  mounted 
his  horse  and  rode  towards  home,  with  a  heart  heavy 
with  the  thought  of  all  the  distempers  that  had  come 
on  unhappy  Kansas. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

We  have  already  told  how  the  campaign  was 
opened,  in  the  spring  of  1856,  in  Atchison  county,  in 
a  letter  which  we  at  that  time  addressed  to  the  editor 
of  the  Herald  of  Freedom.  This  paper  was  printed  at 
Lawrence,  on  the  printing  press  destroyed  by  the 
"  Law  and  Order  "  mob.  The  weekly  issue  in  which 
this  letter  was  published  was  passing  through  the  press 
on  the  day  the  town  was  sacked,  one  side  having  been 
printed,  the  other  side  being  yet  blank.  Then  the 
Border  Ruffians  came  into  the  town,  broke  up  the 
press  and  threw  it  into  the  river,  and  tumbled  the  half 
printed  weekly  issue  into  the  street.  The  above- 
named  article  was  on  the  printed  side,  and  was  read 
by  the  whole  crowd,  and  they  were  terribly  angry.  If 
the  writer  had  been  in  town  he  certainly  would  not 
have  escaped  alive,  if  this  mob  could  have  found  him. 
As  it  was,  their  curses  would  not  be  edifying  reading 
in  a  Christian  newspaper.  Lecompton  could  not  give 
its  friends  food  or  lodging.  It  had  been  located  in  an 
out-of-the-way  and  inaccessible  place  ;  its  proprietors 
were  Sheriff  Jones,  Judge  Lecompton,  and  men  of  that 
ilk,  and  business  men  avoided  the  place  as  if  it  had 
been  smitten  with  a  pestilence.  The  people  of  the 
surrounding  country  were  generally  Free  State  men, 
and  the  South  Carolinians  could  not  choose,  but  were 

forced  to  return  to  Atchison.    They  had  been  angry  and 

133 


134  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

impatient  when  their  friends  in  Atchison  had  constrained 
them  to  do  things  up  in  such  "  milk  and  water  "  style, 
and  in  Lawrence  they  had  been  held  back  in  the  same 
manner,  and  they  returned  in  a  savage  temper. 
Should  a  cowardly  Yankee  be  allowed  to  defy  them, 
and  scoff  at  them,  and  call  them  ' '  bull-dogs  and 
blood-hounds,"  with  impunity?  and  now,  with  this 
man  they  had  to  have  a  settlement. 

We  have  already  seen  how  the  contending  factions 
spread  murder  and  violence  south  of  the  Kaw  River ; 
but  from  May  till  September  Leavenworth  county  be- 
came a  "dark  and  bloody  ground."  Immediately 
after  the  Fourth  of  July,  Col.  Sumner  had  been,  be- 
cause of  his  too  great  leniency  to  Free  State  men,  su- 
perseded in  command  at  Fort  Leavenworth  by  Persifer 
F.  Smith,  a  man  whose  heart  was  hard  as  a  rock  of 
adamant  toward  the  Free  State  people,  and  under  his 
eyes  Leavenworth  city  and  county  were  given  up  to 
blood  and  robbery. 

In  Atchison  county,  from  the  beginning  of  these 
border  troubles  to  the  end  of  them,  not  one  man's  life 
was  taken,  and  yet  David  R.  Atchison,  Gen.  B.  F. 
Stringfellow,  and  his  law  partner,  Peter  T.  Abell,  were 
the  leading  members  of  the  Atchison  town  company. 
Robert  S.  Kelley  and  Dr.  John  H.  Stringfellow  also 
maintained  unchanged  their  bloody  purposes.  We 
find  in  the  Squatter  Sovereign,  under  date  of  June  loth, 
the  following  editorial,  and  this  displays  its  uniform 
temper : 

The  Abolitionist:  shoot  down  our  men,  without  provocation,  wher- 
ever they  meet  them;  let  us  retaliate  in  the  same  manner.  A  free  fight 
is  all  we  desire.  If  murder  and  assassination  is  the  programme  of  the 
day,  we  are  in  favor  of  filling  the  bill.  Let  not  the  knives  of  the  Pro- 


PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS.  1 35 

slavery  men  be  sheated  while  there  is  one  Abolitionist  in  the  Territory. 
As  they  have  shown  no  quarters  to  our  men,  they  deserve  none  from  us. 
Let  our  motto  be  written  in  blood  on  our  flags,  ' '  Death  to  all  Yankees 
and  traitors  in  Kansas" 

Why,  then,  were  not  these  bloody  counsels  made 
good  by  deeds?  Our  circumstances  were  peculiar. 
It  will  be  seen  above  that  it  was  only  the  Yankees  and 
Abolitionists  in  whose  bodies  the  knives  of  the  '  *  Law 
and  Order"  party  were  to  be  sheated;  and  the  Yan- 
kees in  the  country  were  only  a  handful  of  men,  and 
were  therefore  powerless ;  but  between  them  and  these 
bloody-minded  chieftains  was  interposed  a  barrier  that 
proved  insurmountable.  The  great  mass  of  the  squat- 
ters were  just  from  the  other  side  of  the  river.  Some- 
times a  son  had  left  a  father,  and  crossed  the  river  to 
get  a  claim  ;  or  a  brother  had  left  his  brother,  or  a  girl 
had  married  a  young  man  in  the  neighborhood,  and  as 
the  young  folks  were  poor,  they  had  left  the  old  folks 
and  had  gone  to  seek  their  fortune  in  the  new  Terri- 
tory. Of  course  the  old  folks  would  still  have  a  care 
for  the  young  couple.  They  were  in  easy  reach  of 
each  other,  and  would  still  visit  back  and  forth.  Now 
who  does  not  see  that  to  touch  any  one  of  these  was 
to  touch  all?  It  was  like  touching  a  nest  of  hornets. 
The  reader  will  observe  that  these  people  had  no  quar- 
rel with  the  people  of  the  South :  they  were  bone  of 
their  bone  and  flesh  of  their  flesh.  Neither  had  they 
any  special  quarrel  with  Southern  institutions ;  only 
this,  that  they  would  rather  live  in  a  free  State.  They 
did  feel  that  way,  and  they  could  not  help  it.  But  in 
one  thing  they  had  been  sorely  wounded.  In  the  in- 
vasion of  Kansas,  and  in  the  carrying  the  elections  by 
violence,  their  personal  rights  had  been  invaded,  and 


136  PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS. 

they  did  resent  that.  And  now  here  were  some 
Yankee  neighbors  whom  they  knew  to  be  kindly  and 
peaceable  people,  and  whose  help  they  needed  in 
building  up  their  churches ;  and  yet  these  were  to  be 
murdered  or  driven  out  of  the  Territory  for  nothing! 
and  it  touched  their  Southern  blood.  It  was  neither 
just  nor  right,  and  they  would  not  allow  it;  and  in 
such  an  issue  there  would  be  a  common  bond  of  sym- 
pathy on  both  sides  of  the  river.  Moreover,  such  men 
as  Oliver  Steele,  Judge  Tutt  and  the  Irvings  and  Harts 
and  Christophers  had  grave  misgivings  what  would  be 
the  final  issue  of  this  system  of  murder  and  violence 
that  had  been  adopted  to  make  Kansas  a  slave  State. 

And  so  it  was  that  the  leaders  in  this  conspiracy, 
right  here  in  this  city  and  county  of  Atchison,  which 
was  their  headquarters,  found  themselves  strangely 
embarrassed  and  handicapped.  Their  will  was  good 
enough,  but  how  to  carry  out  their  purpose? — that 
was  the  pinch.  A  private  assassination  was  a  thing 
that  looked  easy  enough  at  the  first  sight,  but  it  might 
turn  out  that  they  had  undertaken  an  ugly  job  for 
themselves. 

A  meeting  of  the  Disciples  was  held  at  the  house 
of  Archibald  Elliott  in  the  month  of  June.  It  was 
called  quietly,  and  no  noise  made  about  it.  There 
was  a  large  attendance,  and  it  was  evident  that  if  we 
could  hold  regular  meetings  great  good  would  be  done. 
But  the  neighborhood  was  soon  filled  with  alarming 
rumors.  It  was  said  that  a  company  of  South  Caro- 
linians were  seen  to  go  into  a  grove  of  bushes,  about 
nightfall,  where  the  writer  would  be  expected  to  pass, 
and  that  they  were  seen  to  emerge  from  the  same  place 
the  next  morning.  One  event,  however,  adjourned  our 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  137 

meetings  without  date.  There  was  a  man  living  in 
the  western  part  of  the  county  named  Barnett,  who 
was  a  man  of  considerable  attainment,  and  had  been 
a  member  of  the  Christian  Church.  But  he  was  given 
to  drink.  His  wife,  however,  who  was  an  excellent 
Christian  woman,  remained  steadfast  to  the  church, 
and  Barnett,  as  he  saw  his  hold  on  the  church  and  his 
hope  of  heaven  slipping  away  from  him,  clung  the 
more  loyally  to  his  wife,  as  though  her  Christian  ex- 
cellencies would  save  them  both.  At  her  request  he 
invited  me  to  preach  a  sermon  at  his  house,  and  I  con- 
sented. But  when  the  South  Carolinians  in  Atchison 
heard  of  it,  they  sent  an  insulting  message  to  Barnett 
that  they  would  come  and  shoot  me.  Barnett's  South- 
ern blood  was  all  on  fire.  Who  were  these  men  that 
had  come  to  Atchison  county  to  ride  rough-shod  over 
him  in  his  own  house  ?  He  sent  a  message  equally 
defiant  back  to  them,  that  if  they  did  come  he  and  his 
neighbors  would  shoot  them.  But  there  was  one  man 
in  the  county  that  needed  to  have  no  nervousness  as 
touching  his  reputation  for  personal  bravery.  That 
man  was  Caleb  May;  and  he  interposed  and  said: 
' '  Let  us  wait  patiently  for  more  peaceful  times.  The 
Son  of  man  did  not  come  to  destroy  men's  lives,  but 
to  save  them."  But  this  adjourned  without  date  our 
meetings. 

One  incident  must  illustrate  the  strained  and  pecu- 
liar condition  of  affairs  in  Atchison  county.  Archi- 
medes Speck  lived  on  the  Stranger  Creek,  several  miles 
below  the  residence  of  the  writer.  He  was  a  man  of 
magnificent  physical  development,  and  was  a  pro- 
nounced Free  State  man.  His  wife's  people  originally 
came  from  North  Carolina,  and  she  was  proud  of  her 


138  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

Southern  blood  ;  and  the  husband  and  wife  did  not 
come  to  Kansas  to  be  run  over  by  anybody.  Yet  they 
were  eminently  peaceable  people,  if  let  alone.  These 
gentlemen  in  Atchison  had  determined  to  disarm  the 
Free  State  people  living  in  the  country;  and  Mr. 
Speck,  being  a  Free  State  man,  open  and  avowed, 
they  called  on  him,  but  he  was  not  at  home.  They 
therefore  asked  his  wife  :  ' '  Has  your  husband  a  rifle, 
musket,  or  fire-arms  of  any  kind?"  She  brought  out 
an  old  Queen  Anne's  musket,  as  rusty  and  worn  as  if 
it  had  been  in  service  ever  since  the  Revolutionary  war. 
But  while  they  were  inspecting  the  rusty  old  thing, 
whether  it  was  worth  carrying  away,  she  took  from  a 
closet  a  bran  span  new  double-barrel  fowling-piece, 
and,  putting  her  finger  on  the  trigger,  she  said,  "  Now, 
sir,  if  you  do  not  lay  down  that  musket  and  leave  the 
house,  I  will  shoot  you."  If  this  gentleman  had  sud- 
denly roused  up  a  female  tiger,  he  would  not  have 
been  more  terror-stricken  than  when  he  found  himself 
facing  this  woman,  blazing  with  scorn  and  irrepress- 
ible resentment,  and  he  concluded  he  did  not  want  the 
rusty  old  musket,  and  did  not  ask  to  examine  the  other 
one. 

Mr.  S.  had  threatened  to  flog  one  of  his  Pro- 
slavery  neighbors  who  had  insulted  him,  as  he  alleged, 
and  the  man  went  to  Atchison  and  made  oath  that  he 
was  in  fear  of  his  life,  and  the  Sheriff  was  sent  out 
with  a  warrant  to  arrest  Mr.  Speck.  But  at  this  time 
Leavenworth  county  was  full  of  murder  and  blood- 
shed ;  guerrilla  parties,  both  Free  State  and  Pro-slavery, 
were  fighting  in  many  parts  of  the  Territory,  and  Lane 
had  returned,  and  was  leading  the  Free  State  men  in 
this  warfare,  and  had  threatened  with  many  oaths  to  wipe 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  139 

out  Atchison,  and  there  were  rumors  that  he  was  al- 
ready near  at  hand.  And  so,  to  provide  against  all  con- 
tingencies, the  Sheriff  was  accompanied  by  a  posse  of 
forty  armed  men,  who  took  with  them  a  cannon  which 
had  been  loaned  to  Atchison  by  the  people  of  Mis- 
souri. 

Mrs.  Speck  received  the  Sheriff  graciously,  ex- 
plained to  him  that  her  husband  was  absent,  but  would 
soon  return,  but  to  all  questions  as  touching  his  pres- 
ent whereabouts,  she  shook  her  head  mysteriously  and 
refused  to  explain.  The  thing  looked  suspicious. 
Was  it  possible  that  Lane  was  even  now  in  the  neigh- 
borhood ?  and  the  Sheriff  went  back  to  his  posse  to 
hold  a  council  of  war.  He  had  stationed  them  on  a 
high  bluff  on  the  north  bank  of  the  Stranger  Creek, 
and,  looking  across  the  wide  timbered  bottom  to  the 
opposite  bluff,  they  could  dimly  see  a  large  number  of 
objects  approaching  through  the  brush-wood.  What 
could  it  be  ?  Was  it  Lane  coming  to  attack  him  ? 
And  now  two  horsemen  emerged  from  the  brush  and 
rode  on  a  full  gallop  down  the  bluff. 

"  It  is  Lane  !  It  is  Lane  !"  they  cried.  "  Let  us 
ride  back  to  Atchison  and  get  ready  to  defend  the 
town,"  and  on  a  gallop  they  skedaddled  back  to 
Atchison. 

Mr.  Speck  had  been  with  some  of  his  neighbors  to 
bring  home  a  herd  of  cattle.  An  old  cow  had  broken 
from  the  herd,  intending  to  get  back  to  her  former 
grazing-ground,  and  Mr.  Speck  and  his  neighbors  had 
ridden  full  gallop  to  head  her  off.  On  reaching  home, 
and  learning  of  the  visit  of  the  Sheriff,  he  went  at  once 
to  Atchison  to  give  bonds  to  keep  the  peace ;  and  to 
make  all  things  square,  he  took  with  him  the  rusty  old 


I4O  PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS. 

musket  and  proffered  it  to  the  gentleman  that  had  been 
so  solicitous  to  get  it.  Mr.  Speck  assured  him  that 
Mrs.  S.  was  now  willing  he  should  have  it,  and  would 
not  shoot  him  if  he  took  it. 

These  gentlemen  had  been  making  money  out  of 
pocket.  They  had  been  frightened  out  of  their  wits 
by  a  spunky  woman  ;  and  forty  armed  mer,  with  a 
loaded  cannon,  had  been  stampeded  and  made  to  run 
pell-mell  into  Atchison  by  a  herd  of  cattle  and  two  or 
three  men  on  horseback,  riding  at  full  gallop  after  an 
old  cow. 

These  men  had  undertaken  to  do  a  wicked  thing, 
and  had  been  made  ridiculous  in  doing  so  ;  and  this 
contributed  largely  to  that  revolution  in  the  public 
opinion  of  the  county,  which  had  been  going  on  for 
eighteen  months,  and  which  at  the  last  compelled  a 
radical  change  in  the  policy  of  these  ll  Border  Ruffian  " 
leaders.  But  this  again  gave  the  chiefs  of  this  con- 
spiracy abundant  experience  that  it  pays  to  do  right, 
and  that  a  good  Providence  had  brought  them  prosper- 
ity and  honor  by  defeating  their  original  counsels  and 
turning  them  into  foolishness. 

But  first  we  must  tell  of  the  carnival  of  riot,  ruin, 
and  robbing  that  had  been  going  on  in  other  parts  of 
the  Territory. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

The  Squatter  Sovereign,  in  its  issue  of  July  1st, 
made  the  following  announcement : 

The  steamer,  Star  of  the  West,  having  on  board  seventy-eight  Chi- 
cago Abolitionists,  was  overhauled  at  Lexington,  Mo.,  and  the  company 
disarmed.  A  large  number  of  rifles  and  pistols  were  taken  at  Lexing- 
ton, and  a  guard  sent  upon  the  boat,  to  prevent  them  from  landing  in 
the  Territory.  After  leaving  Lexington,  it  was  ascertained  that  they 
had  not  given  up  all  arms,  but  still  held  possession  of  a  great  number  of 
bowie  knives  and  pistols,  which  were  probably  secreted  while  the  search 
was  going  on  at  Lexington.  At  Leavenworth  City,  Captain  Clarkson, 
with  twenty-five  men,  went  on  board  of  the  boat  and  demanded  the 
surrender  of  all  the  arms  in  the  possession  of  the  Abolitionists.  Like 
whipped  dogs  they  sneaked  up  to  Clarkson  and  laid  down  their  weap- 
ons to  him. 

The  men  thus  robbed  of  their  arms  give  the  fol- 
lowing version  of  the  matter  :  They  say  that  at  Lex- 
ington they  were  taken  by  surprise ;  that  their  arms 
were  not  accessible  to  them,  and  that  there  was  noth- 
ing to  do  but  to  yield.  But  that  a  pledge  was  made 
to  them,  that  if  they  would  give  up  their  arms,  they 
should  be  allowed  to  proceed  peaceably  to  Kansas. 
They  furthermore  state  that  at  Kansas  City  Col.  Bu- 
ford  came  aboard  the  boat,  accompanied  by  a  com- 
pany of  soldiers  ;  that  David  R.  Atchison  and  Gen.  B. 
F.  Stringfellow  came  on  board,  and  that  after  the  boat 
had  left  the  landing  these  gentlemen  informed  them 
that  they  would  in  no  wise  be  allowed  to  enter  the 


142  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

Territory;  that  after  the  boat  had  stopped  at  Weston, 
they  should  be  taken  back  to  Alton ;  but  that  if  they 
would  not  accept  this  arrangement,  "  they  should  be 
hung,  every  mother's  son  of  them." 

At  various  times  the  Squatter  Sovereign  and  Leav- 
enworth  Herald  report  similar  outrages.  The  latter 
paper  reports,  July  5th,  the  sending  back  seventy-five 
emigrants  that  had  come  upon  the  steamer  Sultan.  In 
reference  to  this  occurrence,  the  Squatter  Sovereign 
makes  the  following  remark  : 

We  do  not  fully  approve  of  sending  these  criminals  back  to  the 
East,  to  be  reshipped  to  Kansas — if  not  through  Missouri,  through 
Iowa  and  Nebraska.  We  think  they  should  meet  a  traitor's  death  ;  and 
the  world  could  not  censure  us  if  we,  in  self- protection,  have  to  resort  to 
such  ultra  measures.  We  are  of  the  opinion  that  if  the  citizens  of  Leaven- 
worth  city,  or  Weston,  would  hang  one  or  two  boat-loads  of  Abolition 
ists,  it  would  do  more  towards  establishing  peace  in  Kansas  than  all  the 
speeches  that  have  been  delivered  in  Congress  during  the  present  ses- 
sion. Let  the  experiment  be  tried. 

The  Missouri  River  was  thus  blockaded  against  the 
incoming  of  emigrants  from  the  free  States,  and  this 
created  intense  excitement  throughout  the  North. 
The  result  was,  that  the  immigration  to  Kansas,  in- 
stead of  being  diminished,  was  largely  increased ;  but 
it  changed  its  direction,  and  Iowa  City  became  the 
entrepot  for  the  incoming  tide  of  free  State  settlers, 
which  now  sought  an  overland  route  through  Iowa  and 
Nebraska,  and  began  to  reach  Kansas  about  the  ist  of 
August. 

The  leaders  of  the  Pro-slavery  party  made  a  pa- 
thetic appeal  to  the  people  of  the  South  to  send  a  cor- 
responding class  oi  emigrants ;  but  the  appeal  was 
feebly  responded  to.  Slave-holders  would  not  come, 
because  their  slaves  would  be  insecure ;  and  now  slave- 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  143 

holders  felt  that  they  had  small  cause  to  come  to  fight 
a  battle  that  was  not  theirs. 

Gov.  Shannon  held  the  scepter  of  power  with  a 
more  and  more  feeble  hand.  He  was  going  to  resign, 
and  he  was  not  going  to  resign.  But  whether  he  did 
or  did  not  resign,  the  substance  of  power  had  already 
passed  into  the  hands  of  his  secretary,  Mr.  Woodson, 
who  was  hand  and  glove  with  his  fellows  in  this  con- 
spiracy to  make  Kansas  a  slave  State. 

Meantime  Col.  Sumner  had  been  superseded  in 
command  at  Fort  Leavenworth  by  Persifer  F.  Smith. 
Col.  Sumner  had  obeyed  orders  like  the  brave  soldier 
that  he  was,  but  he  had  shown  too  much  sympathy  for 
these  victims  of  oppression  in  the  discharge  of  his 
shameful  duties,*  He  did  his  appointed  work,  but  he 
did  not  do  it  with  an  appetite,  and  he  had  been  suc- 
ceeded by  a  man  that  felt  no  more  pity  toward  the 
Free  State  people  than  the  wolf  feels  for  the  lamb  out 
of  which  he  makes  his  breakfast.  The  consequences 
of  this  state  of  affairs  began  soon  to  appear.  The 
Missouri  River  had  been  blockaded.  Trains  sent  to 
Leavenworth  from  Lawrence  and  Topeka  were  robbed 
on  the  public  highway  of  the  merchandise  and  provis- 
ions with  which  they  were  loaded,  and  these  interior 
Free  State  settlements  began  to  feel  the  sharp  pressure 
of  hard  necessities,  while  they  a  third  time  saw  com- 
panies of  so-called  "Law  and  Order"  militia  occupy- 
ing various  points  in  the  Territory  which  these  men 
proceeded  to  fortify,  and  from  which  they  could  over- 
awe the  inhabitants  and  make  raids  on  the  citizens ; 


*  When  Col.  Sumner's  soldiers  were  asked  what  they  would  do  if  they  were 
ftrdered  to  fire  on  the  Free  State  men,  they  replied,  "  We  would  aim  above  their 
heads." 


144  PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS. 

and  thus  the  old  business  of  robbery,  murder,  spolia- 
tion and  oppression  was  again  begun. 

And  now  this  new  immigration  of  a  squatter  sol- 
diery, who  came  bearing  their  muskets  in  one  hand 
and  their  implements  of  husbandry  in  the  other,  and 
were  perfectly  indifferent  whether  it  should  be  work 
or  fight,  came  pouring  over  the  Nebraska  line  and  into 
Kansas  Territory.  A  feeble  attempt  was  made  to  stop 
them,  but  it  amounted  to  nothing.  They  were  not  now 
on  a  Missouri  River  steamboat.  Jim  Lane  came  with 
them.  He  remained  incognito  a  few  days,  and  then  threw 
off  his  disguise,  and  Capt.  Joe  Cook  was  Jim  Lane.  And 
now  the  old,  hard  rule  of  the  law  of  Moses,  *  'An  eye  for 
an  eye,  and  a  tooth  for  a  tooth,"  was  again  the  law  of 
Kansas.  It  was,  "  You  have  robbed  us,  and  we  will  rob 
you ;  you  have  subsisted  yourselves  upon  us,  and  we 
will  subsist  ourselves  on  you ;  you  have  blockaded  the 
Missouri  River,  and  waylaid  our  freighting  trains, 
and  pillaged  them  of  their  freight,  with  intent  to  starve 
out  the  Free  State  people,  and  all  that  belongs  to  you 
and  yours  shall  be  free  plunder  to  us." 

The  places  that  had  been  fortified  by  this  "  Law 
and  Order"  militia  were  one  by  one  stormed  and  the 
garrisons  driven  off.  Franklin  was  a  second  time  at- 
tacked and  its  occupants  taken  prisoners.  Col.  Titus 
had  fortified  his  residence  in  the  suburbs  of  Lecomp- 
ton,  and  here  he  kept  a  company  of  men  that  made 
raids  on  the  surrounding  Free  State  inhabitants.  This 
fort  was  taken  by  assault,  and  Col.  Titus  and  his  men 
were  taken  prisoners,  while  Major  Sedjwick,  with  a 
company  of  United  States  troops,  was  encamped  only 
two  miles  awray.  The  citizens  of  Lecompton  were 
frightened  out  of  their  wits,  and  Gov.  Shannon  was 


PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS.  145 

found  under  the  bank  of  the  Kansas  River,  badly  de- 
moralized, and  trying  to  get  across  the  river  on  an  old 
scow,  and  thus  escape  the  danger.  He  came  the  next 
day  to  Lawrence,  accompanied  by  Maj.  Sedjwick,  to 
make  peace  and  negotiate  an  exchange  of  prisoners, 
He  announced  this  as  his  last  official  act,  and  exhorted 
the  people  in  a  speech  he  made  to  them,  to  live  in 
peace  with  each  other,  while  they  shouted  in  angry 
retort,  "Give  us  back  Barber  and  the  men  that  have 
been  murdered  under  your  rule." 

But  in  spite  of  all  these  reverses  that  had  come 
upon  the  "Law  and  Order"  party,  they  still  had  faith 
that  Providence  is  on  the  side  of  the  heaviest  battal- 
ions, and  that  they  would  yet  succeed  in  driving  out 
these  Free  State  rebels  ;  and  they  proceeded  to  raise, 
along  the  Missouri  border,  a  larger  army  than  it  would 
be  possible  for  the  Free  State  people  to  raise.  Did 
they  not  have  on  their  side  the  President  and  his  Cab- 
inet? Was  not  Congress  on  their  side?  Was  not 
Persifer  F.  Smith,  Commandant  at  Fort  Leavenworth, 
at  least  indifferent  to  all  their  deeds  of  violence  ?  And 
more  and  better,  Woodson  had  succeeded  Shannon  as 
acting  Governor,  and  it  would  be  a  bad  day  that 
should  not  see  the  full  fruition  of  their  hopes. 

But  there  was  one  thought  to  mar  their  otherwise 
perfect  joy,  just  as  Providence  always  pours  a  drop  of 
bitterness  into  every  cup.  A  Governor  unfriendly  to 
their  purposess  might  be  appointed,  and  it  became 
them,  therefore,  to  make  hay  while  the  sun  was  shin- 
ing. They,  therefore,  addressed  the  following  pathetic 
appeal  to  the  people  of  the  South  : 

We  have  asked  the  appointment  of  a  successor  who  was  ac- 
quainted with  our  condition;  who,  a  citizen  of  our  Territory,  identified 


146  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

with  its  interests,  familiar  with  its  history,  would  not  be  prejudiced  or 
misled  by  the  falsehoods  which  have  been  so  systematically  fabricated 
against  us. 

In  his  stead  we  have  one  appointed  who  is  ignorant  of  our  condi- 
tion, a  stranger  to  our  people  ;  who  we  have  too  much  cause  to  fear 
will,  if  no  worse,  prove  no  more  efficient  to  protect  us  than  his  prede- 
cessors. 

With,  then,  a  government  which  has  proved  imbecile,  has  failed  to 
enforce  the  laws  for  our  protection,  with  our  army  of  lawless  banditti 
overturning  our  country — what  shall  we  do  ? 

Though  we  have  full  confidence  in  the  integrity  and  fidelity  of  Mr. 
Woodson,  now  acting  as  Governor,  we  know  not  at  what  moment  his 
authority  will  be  suspended.  We  can  not  await  the  convenience  of  the 
incoming  of  the  newly  appointed  Governor.  We  can  not  hazard  a  sec- 
ond edition  of  imbecility  or  corruption. 

We  must  act  at  once,  and  effectively.  These  traitors,  assassins,  and 
robbers  must  be  punished;  must  now  be  taught  a  lesson  they  will 
remember. 

It  is,  then,  not  only  the  right,  but  the  duty  of  all  good  citizens  of 
Missouri  and  every  other  State  to  come  to  our  assistance,  and  enable  us 
to  expel  these  invaders. 

Mr.  Woodson,  since  the  resignation  of  Governor  Shannon,  has 
fearlessly  met  the  responsibilities  of  the  trust  forced  upon  him,  has  pro- 
claimed the  existence  of  the  rebellion,  and  called  on  the  militia  of  the 
Territory  to  assemble  for  its  suppression. 

We  call  on  you  to  come,  to  furnish  us  assistance  in  men,  provis- 
ions, and  munitions,  that  we  may  drive  out  the  army  of  the  North, 
who  would  subvert  our  government  and  expel  us  from  our  homes. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

Gov.  Shannon  left  the  Territory  a  disgraced  and 
ruined  man.  He  had  proved  himself,  both  to  the  Free 
State  party  and  the  Law  and  Order  party,  a  broken 
staff  that  pierces  the  hand  of  him  that  leans  on  it.  '  Mr. 
Woodson,  who  took  his  place  as  acting  Governor, 
showed  himself  hale  fellow  well  met  with  such  spirits 
as  Sheriff  Jones  and  Judge  Lecompte ;  and  this  faction 
made  piteous  appeals  to  the  Great  Father  at  Washing- 
ton to  give  them  a  man  after  their  own  heart,  and  this 
they  found  in  John  Calhoun,  Surveyor-General  of 
Kansas  and  Nebraska,  whose  official  patronage  made 
him  a  man  of  considerable  influence,  and  whose 
freighting  outfit,  kept  for  his  peculiar  business,  would 
have  made  him  eminently  useful  to  this  party  in  the 
transportation  of  military  stores.  But  their  appeal 
had  been  denied  them,  and  instead  of  Surveyor-General 
Calhoun,  Mr.  Geary,  of  Pennsylvania,  had  been  ap- 
pointed. 

That  great  party,  of  which  the  President  was  the 
official  head,  was  convulsed  with  such  internal  feuds 
and  contentions,  consequent  on  these  very  Kansas 
troubles,  as  threatened  its  existence.  A  Presidential 
election  was  pending,,  and  attention  must  be  paid  to 
this  fact,  rather  than  to  the  desperate  schemes  of  this 
Kansas  faction.  John  W.  Geary  was,  therefore,  an- 
nounced as  the  appointee  of  the  President.  Mr.  G. 


148  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

came  with  high  claims  to  public  favor.  He  had  passed 
through  the  Mexican  war  with  honor  ;  he  had  discharged 
high  public  trust  in  California  with  such  fidelity  and  skill 
as  won  for  him  a  distinguished  reputation.  He  was  the 
friend,  and  almost  the  neighbor,  of  the  incoming  Pres- 
ident, James  Buchanan,  and  he  enjoyed  the  confidence 
of  the  outgoing  President,  Franklin  Pierce;  and  was 
closeted  with  him  and  with  his  Secretary  of  State,  Mr. 
Marcy,  before  leaving  Washington.  That  nothing 
might  be  wanting  to  his  success,  he  spent  a  day  at 
Jefferson  City,  Mo.,  with  Gov.  Sterling  Price,  and  with 
him  arranged  to  have  the  blockade  removed  from  the 
Missouri  River. 

Mr.  Geary  met  at  Glasgow,  Mo.,  the  retiring  ex- 
Governor,  and  Dr.  Gihon  reports  that  he  was  fleeing 
in  terror  that  his  life  would  be  taken  by  the  men  for 
whom  he  had  been  such  an  abject  tool. 

While  these  parting  ceremonies  were  being  performed  a  steamboat 
bound  down  the  river,  and  directly  from  Kansas,  came  along  side  the 
Keystone.  Ex-Governor  Shannon  was  a  passenger,  who,  upon  learning 
the  close  proximity  of  Gov.  Geary,  sought  an  immediate  interview  with 
him.  The  ex-Governor  was  greatly  agitated.  He  had  fled  in  haste 
and  terror  from  ihe  Territory,  and  still  seemed  laboring  under  an  appre- 
hension for  his  personal  safety.  His  description  of  Kansas  was  sug- 
gestive of  everything  that  is  frightful  and  horrible.  Its  condition  was 
deplorable  in  the  extreme.  The  whole  Territory  was  in  a  state  of  insur- 
rection, and  a  destructive  civil  war  was  devastating  the  country.  Mur- 
der ran  rampant,  and  the  roads  were  everywhere  strewn  with  the  bodies 
of  slaughtered  men. 

Dr.  Gihon  afterwards  published  a  small  volume  of 
348  pages,  from  which  the  preceding  extract  has  been 
taken.  The  work  is  entitled  "Governor  Geary's  Ad- 
ministration in  Kansas."  This  work  does  not  bear  the 
sign  manual  of  Gov.  Geary,  but  as  it  was  written  by 
the  Governor's  private  secretary,  it  must  be  taken  as 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  149 

an  authentic  statement  of  what  these  gentlemen  saw 
with  their  own  eyes,  and  heard  with  their  own  ears,  as 
touching  the  condition  of  things  in  the  Territory.  Dr. 
Gihon  gives  the  following  testimony  concerning  the 
troubles  in  and  around  Leavenworth  and  their  cause : 

After  the  removal  of  Shannon  on  the  2ist  of  August,  when  Secre- 
tary Woodson  became  acting  Governor  until  the  arrival  of  Gov.  Geary 
in  September,  the  belligerents  had  matters  pretty  much  their  own  way, 
and  the  rufiians  improved  the  tune,  under  pretense  of  authority  from 
Woodson,  to  perpetrate  with  impunity  the  most  shocking  barbarities. 

During  this  time  Gen.  Smith  received  much  censure  from  the  Free 
State  people.  Emory,  Wilkes,  Stringfellow  and  others  were  driving 
these  from  their  homes  in  Leavenworth,  and  many  of  them  fled  in  terror 
for  protection  within  the  enclosures  of  the  fort ;  when  the  General 
caused  hand-bills  to  be  posted  over  the  grounds  commanding  them  to  leave 
before  a  certain  specified  time,  and  gave  orders  to  his  subordinates  to  en- 
force this  command.  These  unfortunate  people,  among  whom  were  men 
of  the  highest  respectability,  and  even  women  and  children,  were  com- 
pelled, some  of  them  without  money  or  suitable  clothing,  to  take  to  the 
prairies,  exposed  at  every  step  to  the  danger  of  being  murdered  by  scout- 
ing or  marauding  parties,  or  at  the  risk  of  their  lives  effect  their  escape 
upon  the  downward-bound  boats.  Some  of  these  were  shot  in  the  at- 
tempt upon  the  river  banks,  whilst  others  were  seized  at  Kansas  City  and 
other  Missouri  towns,  brought  back  as  prisoners,  and  disposed  of  in 
such  a  manner  as  will  only  be  made  known  at  that  great  day  when  all 
human  mysteries  will  be  revealed. 

Captain  Frederick  Emory,  a  United  States  Mail  Contractor,  ren- 
dered himself  conspicuous  in  Leavenworth  at  the  head  of  a  band  of 
ruffians  mostly  from  Western  Missouri.  They  entered  houses,  stores  and 
dwellings  of  Free  State  people,  and  in  the  name  of  "Law  and  Order" 
abused  and  robbed  the  occupants,  and  drove  them  out  into  the  roads, 
irrespective  of  age,  sex  or  condition.  Under  pretense  of  searching  for 
arms,  they  approached  the  house  of  William  Phillips,  the  lawyer  who 
had  been  previously  tarred  and  feathered  and  carried  to  Missouri. 
Phillips,  supposing  he  was  to  be  subjected  to  a  similar  outrage,  and  re- 
solved not  to  submit  to  the  indignity,  stood  upon  his  defense.  In  repel- 
ling the  assaults  of  the  mob,  he  killed  two  of  them,  when  the  others 
burst  into  the  house,  and  poured  a  volley  of  balls  into  his  body,  killing 
him  instantly  in  the  presence  of  his  wife  and  another  lady.  His 


I5O  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

brother,  who  was  also  present,  had  an  arm  broken  with  bullets,  and  was 
compelled  to  submit  to  an  amputation.  Fifty  of  the  Free  State  prison- 
ers were  then  driven  on  board  the  Polar  Star,  bound  for  St.  Louis. 
On  the  next  day  a  hundred  more  were  embarked  by  Emory  and  his 
men  on  the  steamboat  Emma. 

At  this  time  civil  war  raged  in  all  the  populous  districts.  Women 
and  children  had  fled  from  the  Territory.  No  man's  life  was  safe,  and 
every  person,  when  he  lay  down  to  rest  at  night,  bolted  and  barred  his 
doors,  and  fell  asleep  grasping  firmly  his  pistol,  gun  or  knife. 

Emory's  company  were  all  mounted  on  "pressed"  horses,  the 
owners  of  some  of  which  were  present  to  point  out  and  claim  them ; 
but  as  there  existed  no  courts  or  judges  from  whom  the  necessary  legal 
process  could  be  obtained,  and  as  Gen.  Smith  would  not  listen  to  their 
complaints,  they  had  no  means  by  which  to  recover  their  property. 

Emory  and  his  company  held  their  headquarters  at  Leavenworth 
City,  whence  they  sallied  into  the  surrounding  country  to  "press,"  not 
steal,  the  horses,  cattle,  wagons  and  other  property  of  Free  State  men. 
It  was  during  these  excursions  that  Major  Sackett,  of  the  United  States 
Army,  found  in  the  road  near  Leavenworth  City  a  number  of  the  bodies 
of  men  who  had  been  seized,  robbed,  murdered  and  mutilated,  and  left 
unburied  by  the  wayside. 

On  the  1 7th  of  August,  1856,  a  shocking  affair  occurred  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Leavenworth.  Two  ruffians  sat  at  a  table  in  a  low 
groggery,  imbibing  potations  of  bad  whisky.  One  of  them,  named 
Fugert,  bet  his  companion  six  dollars  against  a  pair  of  boots  that  he  would 
go  out  and  in  less  than  two  hours  bring  in  the  scalp  of  an  Abolitionist. 
He  went  into  -the  road,  and,  meeting  a  Mr.  Hoppe,  who  was  in  his  car- 
riage just  returning  to  Leavenworth  from  a  visit  to  Lawrence,  where  he 
had  conveyed  his  wife,  Fugert  deliberately  shot  him ;  then,  taking  out 
his  bowie  knife,  whilst  his  victim  was  still  alive,  he  cut  and  tore  off  his 
scalp  from  his  quivering  head.  Leaving  the  body  of  Hoppe  lying  in  the 
road,  he  elevated  his  bloody  trophy  upon  a  pole,  and  paraded  it  through 
the  streets  of  Leavenworth.  On  the  same  day  a  teamster,  who  was 
approaching  Leavenworth,  was  murdered  and  scalped  by  another  human 
monster. 

A  poor  German,  when  the  scalp  of  Hoppe  was  brought  into  Leaven- 
worth, was  impudent  enough  to  express  his  horror  of  the  shocking 
deed,  when  he  was  ordered  to  run  for  his  life — in  attempting  which  a 
number  of  bullets  sped  after  him,  and  he  fell  dead  in  the  street. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

In  the  month  of  August,  1856,  a  company  of  so- 
called  Territorial  Militia  established  themselves  at 
Hickory  Point,  Jefferson  county,  about  twenty  miles 
north  of  Lawrence,  and  proceeded  to  make  raids  on 
the  Free  State  settlements.  In  one  of  these  raids  they 
pillaged  the  village  of  Grasshopper  Falls,  robbing  the 
stores  of  their  contents.  Gen.  Lane  and  Captains 
Harvey  and  Bickerton  determined  to  attack  and  dis- 
lodge these  marauders.  But  on  the  nth  of  Septem- 
ber Gov.  Geary,  having  arrived  at  Lecompton,  issued 
a  proclamation  ordering  all  armed  bands  of  men, 
whether  known  as  Territorial  Militia  or  Free  State 
Guerrillas,  to  disperse  and  retire  to  their  homes.  Gen. 
Lane  determined  at  once  to  leave  the  Territory,  and 
sent  a  message  to  that  effect  to  Capt.  Harvey,  who 
had  arranged  to  unite  his  command  with  that  of  GCD. 
Lane  in  an  attack  on  Hickory  Point ;  but  the  messen- 
ger failed  to  meet  Harvey,  who  made  the  attack  alone 
and  captured  these  robbers.  But  Harvey's  men  were 
in  their  turn  taken  prisoners  by  a  company  of  United 
States  troops  and  were  conveyed  to  Lecompton  and  kept 
during  the  winter  as  treason  prisoners.  But  while  the 
Free  State  forces  were  thus  being  scattered,  disbanded 
and  taken  prisoners,  by  virtue  of  Gov.  Geary's  procla- 
mation, '  an  army  of  3,000  men  had  been  enlisted  in 
Missouri  and  along  the  border  towns,  and  were  march- 


152  PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS. 

ing  to  destroy  Lawrence  and  wipe  out  the  Free  State 
settlements.  Delilah  bound  Samson  with  cords,  then 
said,  "The  Philistines  be  upon  thee,  Samson";  and 
so  these  "Law  and  Order"  leaders  saw  the  Free  State 
forces  dispersed  by  the  Governor's  proclamation,  and 
then  thought  to  bring  on  the  helpless  settlements  the 
whole  power  of  this  Missouri  invasion.  But  we  will 
let  Mr.  Geary's  private  secretary  tell  the  story  in  his 
own  way : 

But  the  most  reprehensible  character  in  the  drama  being  enacted  was 
the  Secretary  of  the  Territory,  then  acting  Governor.  More  than  three 
weeks  after  Gov.  Geary  had  received  his  commission  and  Secretary 
Woodson  had  every  reason  to  believe  that  he  was  on  his  way  to  the  Ter- 
ritory, that  weak-minded,  if  not  criminally  defective,  officer  issued  the 
following  proclamation  : 

WHEREAS,  Satisfactory  evidence  exists  that  the  Territory  of  Kansas  is  in- 
fested with  large  bodies  of  armed  men  : 

Now,  therefore,  I,  Daniel  Woodson,  Acting  Governor  of  the  Territory  of 
Kansas,  do  issue  my  proclamation  declaring  the  said  Territory  to  be  in  a  state  of 
open  insurrection  and  rebellion,  and  I  do  hereby  call  upon  all  law-abiding  citizens 
of  the  Territory  to  rally  to  the  support  of  the  country  and  its  laws. 

Not  satisfied  with  the  proclamation,  which  of  itself  was  sufficiently 
mischievous,  he  wrote  private  letters  to  parties  in  Missouri  calling  for 
men,  money  and  munitions  of  war.  This  proclamation  and  these  let- 
ters called  together  thousands  of  men,  mostly  from  Missouri,  with  pas- 
sions inflamed  to  the  highest  degree,  and  whose  only  thought  was  whole- 
sale slaughter  and  destruction. 

It  was  the  fixed  purpose  of  Secretary  Woodson  to  keep  Gov.  Geary 
in  ignorance  of  the  extensive  preparations  that  were  being  made  to  at- 
tack and  destroy  the  Free  State  settlements.  As  yet  the  Governor  had 
not  seen  Woodson's  proclamation.  Governor  Geary  issued  the  folio w- 
orders : 

ADJT.  GEN.  H.  J.  STRICKLER  :— You  will  proceed  without  a  moments's  de- 
lay to  disarm  and  disband  the  present  organized  militia  of  the  Territory. 

Notwithstanding  the  positive  character  of  these  orders  they  were 
utterly  disregarded.  Suspecting  that  treachery  was  somewhere  at  work 
he  forthwith  dispatched  confidential  messengers  on  the  road  to  West- 
port  to  ascertain,  if  possible,  what  operations  were  going  forward  in  that 
vicinity. 


PERSONAL   RECOLLECTOINS.  153 

Messengers  were  constantly  arriving  from  Lawrence  bringing  in- 
telligence  that  a  large  army  from  Missouri  was  encamped  on  the  Waka- 
rusa  River  and  was  hourly  expected  to  attack  the  town.  As  these  men 
were  styled  Territorial  Militia  and  were  called  into  service  by  the  late 
acting  Governor  Woodson,  Gov.  Geary  commanded  that  officer  to  take 
with  him  Adjutant-General  Strickler  with  an  escort  of  United  States 
troops  and  disband,  in  accordance  with  the  proclamation  issued,  the 
forces  that  had  so  unwisely  been  assembled.  Woodson  and  Strickler  left 
Lecompton  in  the  afternoon,  and  reached  the  Missouri  camp  early  in 
the  evening. 

Here  Woodson  found  it  impossible  to  accomplish  the  object  of  his 
mission.  No  attention  or  respect  was  paid  to  him  by  those  having 
command  of  the  forces.  The  army  he  had  gathered  refused  to  acknowl- 
edge his  authority.  He  had  raised  a  storm,  the  elements  of  which  he 
was  powerless  to  control ;  neither  could  the  officers  be  assembled  to  re- 
ceive the  Governor's  orders  from  the  Adjutant-General.  The  militia 
had  resolved  not  to  disband,  the  officers  refused  to  listen  to  the  reading 
of  the  proclamation — they  were  determined  upon  accomplishing  the 
bloody  work  they  had  entered  the  Territory  to  perform.  Nothing  but 
the  destruction  of  Lawrence  and  the  other  Free  State  towns,  the  massa- 
cre of  the  Free  State  residents,  and  the  appropriation  of  their  lands 
and  other  property,  could  satisfy  them. 

Mr.  Adams,  who  accompanied  Secretary  Woodson  to  the  Missouri 
camp,  dispatched  the  following : 

LAWRENCE,  12  o'clock  Midnight,  Sept.  14,  1856. 
To  His  EXCELLENCY,  Gov.  GEARY  : 

SIR  : — Secretary  Woodson  thought  you  had  better  come  to  the  camp  of  the 
militia  as  soon  as  you  can.  THEODORE  ADAMS. 

Before  this  dispatch  reached  Lecompton  the  Governor  had  de- 
parted with  three  hundred  United  States  mounted  troops  and  a  battery 
of  light  artillery,  and  arrived  in  Lawrence  early  in  the  morning,  where 
he  found  matters  precisely  as  described.  Skillfully  stationing  his  troops 
outside  the  town,  in  commanding  positions,  to  prevent  a  collision  be- 
tween the  invading  forces  from  Missouri  and  the  citizens,  he  entered 
Lawrence  alone,  and  there  he  beheld  a  sight  which  would  have  aroused 
the  manhood  of  the  most  stolid  mortal.  About  three  hundred  persons 
tvere  found  in  arms,  determined  to  sell  their  lives  at  the  dearest  price  to 
their  ruffian  enemies.  Among  these  were  many  women,  and  children  of 
"both  sexes,  armed  with  guns  and  otherwise  accoutered  for  battle.  They 
had  been  goaded  to  this  by  the  courage  of  despair. 

Gov.  Geary  addressed  the  armed  citizens  of  Lawrence,  and  when 


154  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

he  assured  them  of  his  and  the  law's  protection  they  offered  to  deposit 
their  arms  at  his  feet  and  return  to  their  respective  habitations.  He 
bade  them  go  to  their  homes  in  confidence,  and  to  carry  their  arms  with 
them,  as  the  constitution  guarantees  that  right,  but  to  use  them  only  in 
the  last  resort  to  protect  their  lives  and  property  and  the  chastity  of 
their  females. 

Early  in  the  morning  of  the  I5th,  having  left  the  troops  to  pro- 
tect the  town,  the  Governor  proceeded  alone  to  the  camp  of  the  invad- 
ing forces,  then  within  three  miles  and  drawn  up  in  line  of  battle.  Be- 
fore reaching  Franklin,  he  met  the  advance  guard,  and  upon  inquiring 
who  they  were  and  what  were  their  objects,  received  for  answer  that 
they  were  the  Territorial  Militia,  and  called  into  service  by  the  Gover- 
nor of  Kansas,  and  that  they  were  marching  to  wipe  out  Lawrence  and 
every  Abolitionist  in  the  country. 

Mr.  Geary  informed  them  that  he  was  now  Governor  of  Kansas, 
and  Commander-in-chief  of  the  Territorial  Militia,  and  ordered  the 
officer  in  command  to  countermarch  his  troops  back  to  the  main  line, 
and  conduct  him  to  the  center,  which  order,  after  some  hesitation,  was 
reluctantly  obeyed. 

The  red  face  of  the  rising  sun  was  just  peering  over  the  top  of  Blue 
Mound,  as  the  Governor,  with  his  strange  escort  of  three  hundred 
mounted  men,  with  red  shirts  and  odd-shaped  hats,  descended  upon  the 
Wakarusa  plain,  where  in  battle  array  were  ranged  at  least  three  thou- 
sand armed  and  desperate  men.  They  were  not  dressed  in  the  usual 
habiliments  of  soldiers,  but  in  every  imaginable  costume  that  could  be 
obtained  in  the  western  region.  Most  of  them  were  mounted,  and  man- 
ifested an  unmistakable  disposition  to  be  at  their  bloody  work.  In  the 
back -ground  stood  at  least  three  hundred  army  tents  and  as  many  wagons, 
while  here  and  there  a  cannon  was  planted  ready  to  aid  in  the  antici- 
pated destruction.  Among  the  banners  floated  black  flags,  to  indicate 
the  design  that  neither  age,  sex  nor  condition  would  be  spared  in  the 
slaughter  that  was  to  ensue. 

In  passing  along  the  lines  murmurs  of  discontent  and  savage 
threats  of  assassination  fell  upon  the  Governor's  ears,  but  heedless  of 
these  and  regardless,  in  fact,  of  everything  but  a  desire  to  avert  the  ter- 
rible calamity  that  was  impending,  he  fearlessly  proceeded  to  the  quar- 
ters of  their  leader. 

This  threatening  army  was  under  the  command  of  John  W.  Reed, 
then  and  now  a  member  of  the  Missouri  Legislature,  assisted  by  ex- 
Senator  Atchison,  Gen.  B.  F.  Stringfellow,  Gen.  L.  A.  Maclean,  Gen. 
J.  W.  Whitfield,  Gen.  George  W.  Clarke,  Gens.  William  A.  Heiskell, 


PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS.  1 55 

Wm.  H.  Richardson  and  F.  A.  Marshal,  Col.  H.  T.  Titus,  Capt.  Fred- 
erick Emory  and  others. 

Gov.  Geary  at  once  summoned  the  officers  together,  and  addressed 
them  at  length  and  with  great  feeling.  He  depicted  in  a  forcible  man- 
ner the  improper  position  they  occupied  and  the  untold  horrors  that 
would  result  from  a  consummation  of  their  cruel  designs ;  that  if  they 
persisted  in  their  mad  career  the  entire  Union  would  be  involved  in  a 
civil  war,  and  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of  innocent  lives  be  sacri- 
ficed. To  Atchison  he  particularly  addressed  himself,  telling  him  that 
when  he  last  saw  him  he  was  acting  as  Vice-President  of  the  nation 
and  President  of  the  most  dignified  body  of  men  in  the  world,  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States,  but  now  with  sorrow  and  pain  he  saw  him 
leading  on  to  a  civil  and  disastrous  war  an  army  of  men  with  uncontrol- 
lable passions,  and  determined  upon  wholesale  slaughter  and  destruc- 
tion. He  concluded  his  remarks  by  directing  attention  to  his  proclama- 
tion, and  ordered  the  army  to  be  disbanded  and  dispersed.  Some  of  the 
more  judicious  of  the  officers  were  not  only  willing  but  anxious  to  obey 
this  order,  while  others,  resolved  upon  mischief,  yielded  a  reluctant 
assent. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

It  is  now  one-third  of  a  century  since  Kansas  be- 
gan to  be  settled.  Great  as  has  been  the  progress  of 
the  States  of  this  Union  within  this  period,  the  prog- 
ress of  Kansas  has  been  exceptionally  and  peculiarly 
so.  Its  chief  glory  is  not  in  its  large  agricultural  and 
mineral  resources ;  it  is  not  in  its  railroads  and  lines  of 
telegraph ;  it  is  not  in  the  rapidly  increasing  population 
of  educated  men  and  women,  but  it  is  in  this,  that  it  was 
not  only  the  first  State  in  the  nation,  but  the  first 
Commonwealth  in  the  world,  to  solve  the  problem  of 
the  drink  evil,  the  giant  curse  of  Christendom,  by  in- 
corporating prohibition  into  its  fundamental  law. 

In  union  there  is  strength.  Jesus  said  so.  He 
said,  ' '  Every  kingdom  divided  against  itself  is  brought 
to  desolation."  And  so  evidently  does  this  principle 
commend  itself  to  the  common  sense  of  men,  that  we 
have  engraved  on  our  national  ensign  the  motto,  '  '  E 
Pluribus  Unum  " — one  out  of  many. 

How  did  such  growth  in  Kansas  come  to  be?  Not 
in  division,  but  in  union.  We  have  thought  it  would 
do  us  good  to  look  squarely  in  the  face  that  hard, 
cruel,  and  bloody  period  when  it  seemed  the  business 
of  the  people  to  cut  each  other's  throats.  But  cutting 
each  other's  throats  does  not  create  such  growth  as  we 
have  had  in  Kansas. 

Two  peoples  came  together  in  Kansas,  one  from 
156 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  157 

the  South  and  one  from  the  North.  They  were  of  one 
original  stock,  but  circumstances  had  intervened  and 
made  them  two  peoples.  For  two  years  this  bloody 
strife  had  been  going  on.  It  is  said  that  in  revolu- 
tions men  live  fast.  It  was  two  years,  if  we  count  the 
time  by  the  revolutions  of  the  earth  around  the  sun, 
but  if  we  count  by  the  experience  men  had  gained,  it 
was  many  years. 

Dr.  Gihon  tells  that  when  Gov.  Geary  disbanded 
this  Missouri  army  on  the  Wakarusa,  there  grew  up  a 
marked  antagonism  of  sentiment  among  its  leaders. 
He  says:  "Some  of  the  more  judicious  of  the  officers 
were  not  only  willing  but  anxious  to  obey  this  order, 
whilst  others,  resolved  upon  mischief,  yielded  a  very 
reluctant  assent."  There  was  really  a  large  majority 
that  accepted  the  result  with  hearty  good  will,  but 
there  was  also  a  small  and  malcontent  minority  deter- 
mined on  mischief. 

Gen.  B.  F.  Stringfellow,  because  of  the  vehement 
zeal  with  which  he  had  addicted  himself  to  the  enter- 
prise of  making  Kansas  a  slave  State,  had  won  for 
himself  a  national  notoriety.  He  had  staked  life  and 
good  fame  and  everything  on  the  final  issue  of  his 
work,  yet  himself  and  his  law  partner,  Peter  T.  Abell, 
went  back  from  the  Wakarusa  never  to  lift  a  finger 
again  in  that  business.  Mr.  S.  is  a  high-spirited,  hot- 
blooded,  proud-spirited  Virginian.  His  law  partner, 
Col.  Abell,  had  a  temper  as  unbending  as  Andrew 
Jackson,  and  did  to  the  day  of  his  death  hold  a  faith 
in  the  institution  of  slavery  as  abiding  as  John  C.  Cal- 
houn.  But  he  was  a  wise  and  a  just  man,  and  both 
himself  and  Mr.  Stringfellow  recognized  the  fact  that, 
with  such  a  population  as  had  come  into  Kansas,  its 


158  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

becoming  a  free  State  was  only  a  question  of  time ; 
and  both  these  men  were  too  sagacious  to  be  found 
fighting  against  fate.  Mr.  S.  had  always  relished  a 
joke,  and,  when  rallied  by  his  friends  on  his  sudden 
abandonment  of  this  enterprise,  he  facetiously  replied : 
' ' Yes,  I  did  try  to  make  Kansas  a  slave  State ;  but  I 
could  not  do  it  without  slaves,  and  the  South  would 
not  send  slaves,  and  so  I  had  to  give  it  up."  From  the 
time  these  gentlemen  returned  from  the  Wakarusa 
there  was  a  general  softening  of  the  asperities  of  feel- 
ing of  the  people  of  Atchison  and  vicinity,  and  one 
year  after  they  were  prepared  to  announce  to  the  Free 
State  people,  "You  deal  fairly  with  us,  and  we  will 
deal  fairly  with  you  " — and  they  made  their  words 
good  by  deeds,  for  they  took  Free  State  men  into 
partnership  with  themselves  in  the  management  of  the 
Atchison  Town  Company. 

But  by  this  change  Robert  S.  Kelley  found  "Othel- 
lo's occupation  gone,"  and  the  control  of  the  Squatter 
Sovereign  passed  into  the  hands  of  John  A.  Martin, 
now  Governor  of  Kansas,  and  "Bob  Kelley"  shook 
off  the  dust  of  his  feet  and  walked  away,  respected 
for  his  bravery  and  for  his  outspoken  honesty  and  sin- 
cerity, even  by  those  that  did  not  love  him. 

The  writer  will  tell  of  his  last  intervi  ew  with  the 
South  Carolinians  in  a  future  chapter  of  these  Recol- 
lections. 

Peter  T.  Abell  and  Gen.  B.  F.  Stringfellow  were 
State's  rights  men  in  their  political  opinions,  and, 
therefore,  according  to  the  light  that  was  in  them, 
owed  their  allegiance  to  the  State  of  Kansas ;  and  from 
that  allegiance  they  never  swerved  to  the  breadth  of  a 
hair.  Still,  the  people  of  the  South  were  their  breth- 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  159 

ren,  and  they  gave  to  them  their  profoundest  sympathy 
during  that  bloody  struggle  that  was  to  decide  whether 
the  South  should  be  an  independent  nation.  Let  us 
admit  that  this  did  put  these  gentlemen  in  a  strait  be- 
twixt two,  like  Paul,  the  Apostle,  but  they  never 
swerved  to  the  right  hand  nor  to  the  left. 

We  have,  with  some  particularity,  drawn  out  the 
history  of  the  two  most  distinguished  of  the  Southern 
leaders,  because  that,  with  slight  change,  it  wo.uld  be 
the  biography  of  a  great  number  of  citizens  of  Kansas 
that  came  from  the  South.  Now,  who  does  not  see 
that  here  is  the  basis  of  hearty  co-operation,  whether 
in  the  church  or  in  the  world,  of  men  from  the  South 
or  from  the  North  ?  provided  always  we  can  take  into 
our  hearts  the  law  of  love :  "All  things  whatsoever 
ye  would  that  men  should  do  to  you,  do  ye  even  so 
to  them;  for  this  is  the  law  and  the  prophets." 

In  further  illustration  of  this  remark  we  will  relate 
an  incident  concerning  a  Disciple,  who  will  come 
prominently  before  us  in  the  formation  of  our  first 
missionary  society.  Spartan  Rhea  was  from  Missouri, 
and  belonged  to  a  family  intensely  Southern  in  their 
convictions.  He  was  commissioned  a  justice  of  the 
peace  by  the  Territorial  authorities.  A  horse  had  been 
stolen  by  the  Kickapoo  Rangers  from  Gains  Jenkins,  of 
Lawrence.  Gov.  Geary  requested  Bro.  Rhea  to  re- 
cover the  horse,  and  he  did  so  with  some  peril  to  him- 
self, and  made  a  journey  to  Lawrence  to  restore  the 
animal  to  its  proper  owner.  He  sought  to  make  it 
evident  that  the  men  of  his  party  wanted  justice  done. 

But  Dr.  Gihon  also  tells  us  that  there  was  at  the 
Wakarusa  a  small  faction  of  irreconcilables,  who,  if 
they  could  do  nothing  else,  could  at  least  curse. 


I6O  PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS. 

"Gen.  Clarke  said  he  was  for  pitching  into  the 
United  States  troops  rather  than  abandon  the  objects 
of  the  expedition.  Gen.  Maclean  did  n't  see  any  use 
of  going  back  until  they  had  whipped  the Abo- 
litionists. Sheriff  Jones  was  in  favor,  now  that  they 
had  sufficient  force,  of  wiping  out  Lawrence  and  all 
the  Free  State  towns.  And  these  and  others  cursed 
Gov.  Geary  for  his  interference  in  their  well-laid 
plans. 

"The  broad  ground  assumed  by  these  rabid  leaders 
of  the  Pro-slavery  party  in  Kansas  was,  that  an  equi- 
librium of  the  slave  power  must  be  maintained  at  any 
sacrifice  in  the  American  Union,  and  this  could  only 
be  effected  by  increasing  the  slave  States  in  proportion 
with  the  free.  Whilst,  therefore,  the  South  was  will- 
ing to  give  Nebraska  to  the  North,  they  demanded 
that  Kansas  should  be  ceded  to  the  South.  It  was  of 
little  consequence  what  number  of  Northern  men  lo- 
cated in  Kansas — they  had  no  right  to  come  unless 
with  the  intention  to  make  it  a  slave  State." 

This  malcontent  minority  did,  therefore,  become  a 
dangerous  and  revolutionary  faction,  entertaining  crim- 
inal purposes,  which  they  were  ready  to  carry  out  by 
desperate  methods.  They  were  also  in  possession  of 
dangerous  elements  of  power.  They  controlled  the 
Territorial  Legislature,  and  all  the  Territorial  judges 
were  parties  in  this  conspiracy.  Dr.  Gihon  testifies 
that  "every  federal  officer  in  the  Territory,  and  every 
Territorial  officer  from  the  supreme  judges  to  the 
deputy  marshals,  sheriffs  and  clerks,  were  wedded  to 
the  slave  power,  and  pledged  at  all  hazards  to  its  ex- 
tension." 

But  daylight  had  already  begun  to  dawn.     Some 


PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS.  l6l 

of  the  wisest  Pro-slavery  men  in  the  Territory  were 
beginning  to  call  a  halt,  and  to  say :  ' '  We  will  travel 
no  further  in  this  road  in  which  we  are  being  led  by 
these  desperate  and  scheming  adventurers." 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

Gov.  Geary  had  won  ripe  and  rich  honors  from  the 
people  of  this  nation  in  the  official  positions  he  had 
heretofore  held,  and  which  he  had  discharged  with 
such  eminent  ability.  The  position  of  the  Governor 
of  Kansas,  as  seen  from  afar,  and  under  the  glamour 
that  surrounded  it,  was  a  position  of  high  honor. 

Every  child  has  heard  the  story  of  old  "Blue 
Beard,"  how  that,  having  married  a  number  of  wives 
who  had  mysteriously  disappeared,  he  courted  and 
married  a  beautiful  young  lady,  possessing  every  ac- 
complishment that  can  give  grace  and  attractiveness  to 
a  woman,  and  had  carried  her  to  his  castle,  where  she 
should  have  at  her  disposal  an  unlimited  amount  of 
money  and  be  served  by  obsequious  servants,  and 
stand  on  a  level  with  all  the  fine  ladies  and  gentlemen 
in  the  land.  Old  Blue  Beard  gave  to  her  the  keys  un-. 
locking  all  the  rooms  in  his  castle,  but  said  to  her, 
* '  There  is  one  key,  unlocking  one  door,  into  one 
room,  and  into  that  room  you  must  in  nowise  enter." 
But,  overcome  by  her  woman's  curiosity,  she  did  un- 
lock that  door  and  enter  that  room,  and  there  she  be- 
held the  horrid  sight  of  all  the  murdered  wives  of  the 
wicked  old  Blue  Beard,  hanging  and  rotting  on  its 
walls,  and  now  this  was  also  to  be  her  sad  fate. 

Kansas  was  becoming  the  graveyard  of  Territorial 
Governors,  Reeder  and  Shannon  had  already  lost 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  163 

their  official  heads.  Within  six  months  Gov.  Geary's 
head  was  also  to  drop  into  the  basket.  Three  more 
governors  were  to  succeed  him,  each  one  of  whom 
should  in  his  turn  lose  his  official  head.  Gov.  Geary's 
position  was  indeed  very  like  that  of  the  wife  of  the 
wicked  Blue  Beard,  only  that  she  had  certainly  some 
advantages  over  the  Governor.  She  had  a  great  and 
fine  castle,  rich  and  costly  dresses,  many  servants  ready 
to  come  and  go  at  her  beck  and  call,  and  the  company 
of  great  lords  and  fine  ladies ;  but  when  Gov.  Geary 
came  to  his  castle,  his  private  Secretary  shall  tell  us 
what  he  found : 

Lecompton  is  situated  on  the  south  side  of  the  Kansas  River, 
upon  as  inconvenient  and  inappropriate  a  site  for  a  town  as  any  in  the 
Territory.  It  was  chosen  simply  for  speculative  purposes.  It  contained, 
at  the  time  of  Gov.  Geary's  arrival,  some  twenty  or  more  houses,  the 
majority  of  which  were  employed  as  groggeries  of  the  lowest  descrip- 
tion. It  was  the  residence  of  the  celebrated  Sheriff  Jones,  who  is  one 
of  the  leading  members  of  this  town  association,  and  was  the  resort  of 
horse-thieves  and  ruffians  of  the  most  desperate  character.  Its  drinking 
saloons  were  infested  by  these  characters,  whose  drunkenness,  gambling, 
fighting,  and  all  sorts  of  crime,  were  indulged  in  with  impunity. 

Here  was  congregated,  and  here  was  the  head- 
quarters of,  that  band  of  desperate  men,  who  were  in 
a  conspiracy  to  make  Kansas  a  slave  State  at  whatever 
cost  of  blood,  of  fraud,  or  violence.  Here  the  Terri- 
torial Legislature  met  to  enact  their  bloody  code  of 
laws,  and  here  the  Territorial  Judges  held  their  courts, 
which  were  a  burlesque  on  the  very  name  of  a  civilized 
and  Christian  jurisprudence  ;  and  here,  also,  were  kept 
the  treason  prisoners,  while  atrocious  murderers  were 
not  molested,  because  they  were  ' '  sound  on  the  goose 
question." 

We  have  already  told  how  Harvey's  men,  that  had 


1 64  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

attacked  and  taken  prisoners  the  "  Law  and  Order" 
robbers  that  pillaged  the  defenseless  village  of  Grass- 
hopper Falls,  were  themselves  taken  prisoners  by  the 
United  States  troops.  These  were  tried  for  treason  in 
the  Pro-slavery  courts,  and  were  condemned  to  various 
terms  of  imprisonment,  varying  from  six  months  to 
six  years.  They  were  kept  in  a  wretched,  old,  tumble- 
down house,  without  doors  or  windows,  during  the  bit- 
ter cold  of  a  Kansas  winter,  guarded  by  "Law  and 
Order"  militia,  exposed  to  every  insult,  wallowing 
in  filth,  and  eaten  up  with  lice.  But  there  was  one 
circumstance  to  mitigate  their  hapless  condition — their 
jailer  was  a  good-hearted,  honest  Kentuckian,  who  had 
humanity  enough  to  pity  them,  and  bravery  enough 
to  do  what  he  could  to  mitigate  the  hardships  of  their 
lot.  Their  hard-hearted  judges  had  condemned  them 
to  wear  a  ball  and  chain ;  but  Gov.  Geary  refused  to 
provide  balls  and  chains  for  them,  and  the  honest  Capt. 
Hampton  refused  to  fasten  these  symbols  of  degrada- 
tion on  the  limbs  of  men  he  knew  to  be  decent  Amer- 
ican citizens  ;  and  thereat  Sheriff  Jones  became  furious. 
The  facts  of  the  case  were  just  these :  All  the  people 
were,  so  to  speak,  fighting.  The  Governor  issued  his 
proclamation.  These  Hickory  Point  "Law  and  Or- 
der" militia  were  simply  robber  banditti,  and  Captain 
Harvey  and  his  company  thought  they  ought  to  be 
"cleaned  out,"  and  proceeded  to  do  so,  and  this  act, 
though  intrinsically  it  was  a  righteous  act,  yet  techni- 
cally, laid  them  open  to  the  law.  This  happened  on  the 
1 2th  of  September,  but  up  to  the  I4th  of  September 
3,000  "Law  and  Order"  militia,  coming  into  Kansas 
as  outside  invaders,  refused  to  be  disbanded  by  the 
Governor's  proclamation,  and  both  before  and  after 


PERSONAL  RECOLLECTIONS.  l6$ 

contiued  the  business  of  murder  and  robbery.  Yet 
this  was  nothing,  because  these  were  ' '  Law  and  Or- 
der" men.  The  other  was  treason,  for  these  were 
Free  State  men  fighting  for  their  homes  and  firesides. 
But  Capt.  Hampton  saw  the  matter  just  as  it  was,  and 
acted  accordingly.  Dr.  Gihon  testified  of  these  treason 
prisoners,  ''These  prisoners  were  not  all  rough  and 
desperate  adventurers.  Some  of  them  were  gentle- 
men of  polished  education." 

The  sunlight  may  sparkle  and  shimmer  on  the  sur- 
face of  the  foul  and  putrid  marsh,  noxious  with  offen- 
sive and  poisonous  exhalations — so  Dr.  Gihon  throws 
a  kind  of  grim  and  ghastly  humor  over  his  narrative 
of  the  repulsive  and  brutal  surroundings  of  himself 
and  Governor  Geary  during  the  winter  they  were  im- 
prisoned at  Lecompton.  The  Doctor  tells  the  follow- 
ing story  at  the  expense  of  a  Southern  gentleman : 

A  good  anecdote  is  told  by  a  gentleman  from  one  of  the  Southern 
States,  in  regard  to  these  Free  State  prisoners,  when  under  the  charge  of 
Captain  Hampton.  Having  expressed  a  desire  to  see  these  robbers  and 
murderers,  as  he  styled  them,  the  Governor  directed  him  to  the  prison. 

He  immediately  started,  and  looking  in  vain  for  anything  that  re- 
sembled a  prison,  he  approached  two  men  who  were  enjoying  themselves 
with  a  game  of  quoits. 

"  Can  you  tell  me,'''  he  inquired,  where  the  prison  is  where  these 
robbers  and  murderers  are  confined?'' 

"That's  it,"  said  one  of  the  men,  pointing  to  a  house  near  at 
hand. 

"What!  that  old  building,  falling  to  pieces,  without  either  doors 
or  windows?" 

"That  is  the  only  prison  we  have  here,"  replied  the  man,  deliber- 
ately pitching  his  quoit. 

"  Well,"  said  the  Southern  gentleman,  "  I  want  to  see  these  pris- 
oners." 

"I  am  one  of  them,"  said  the  quoit-player,  "  and  that  is  another," 
pointing  to  his  companion. 


1 66  PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS. 

"What!  you  convicted  felons?  You  the  terrible  murderers  about 
whom  1  have  heard  so  much  ?" 

"Yes,  we  are  certainly  two  of  them.  The  others  are  gone  over  to 
the  House  of  Representatives,  to  hear  the  members  abuse  the  Governor." 

"  But,"  says  the  old  gentleman,  "they  do  n't  allow  convicted  mur- 
derers to  go  about  in  this  way,  without  a  guard  to  watch  them  ?" 

"O!  yes,"  says  the  man  interrogated;  "they  used  to  send  a  guard 
with  us  when  we  went  over  to  the  Legislative  Halls,  to  protect  us 
against  violence  from  the  members,  but  they  found  that  too  troublesome, 
so  they  gave  each  of  us  a  revolver  and  bowie-knife,  and  told  us  we 
should  hereafter  be  required  to  protect  ourselves." 

"  But  why  do  n't  you  run  away?     There  is  nothing  to  prevent  you." 

"  Why,  to  tell  the  truth,  we  have  often  been  persuaded  to  do  that, 
but  then  these  rascally  legislators  have  been  threatening  to  assassinate 
the  Governor,  and  we  have  determined  to  remain  here  to  watch  them 
and  protect  him." 

The  old  gentleman  had  no  desire  to  s§e  any  more  of  these  thieves, 
murderers  and  assassins. 

There  are  those  who  find  a  Spanish  bull  fight  or  a 
civilized  American  boxing  match  very  enjoyable  events. 
Such  men  would  have  found  great  enjoyment  in  one 
incident  that  served  to  enliven  the  monotony  of  the 
winter's  residence  of  the  Governor  at  Lecompton. 
There  was  one  Sherrard  who  came  from  Virginia.  He 
was  of  a  good  family,  but  strong  drink  had  been  his 
ruin.  He  had  been  appointed  by  the  Legislature 
Sheriff  of  Douglas  county  in  place  of  S.  T.  Jones,  who 
for  some  reason  was  to  go  out  of  office.  The  Governor 
refused  to  commission  this  Sherrard  because  he  was  a 
drunkard,  a  brawler,  and  a  cursing,  swearing,  gamb- 
ling ruffian  and  bully.  This  made  Sherrard  furious, 
and  Sheriff  Zones  and  all  his  crowd  of  bullies  were 
furious  with  him.  Then  Sherrard  tried  to  raise  a  row 
by  insulting  individuals  in  the  personal  service  of  the 
Governor.  This  failing,  Sherrard  spit  in  the  Gover- 
nor's face ;  but  Mr.  Geary,  mindful  of  the  dignity  of 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  l6/ 

his  office,  and  that  it  did  not  become  the  Governor  of 
Kansas  to  get  into  a  brawl  with  a  common  blackguard, 
walked  straight  on.  Afterwards  Sherrard,  who  kept 
himself  crazy  drunk,  provoked  a  general  affray  in  a 
large  company  of  men,  in  which  pistols  were  fired  in 
every  direction;  when  John  A.  W.  Jones,  the  young 
man  on  Gov.  Geary's  staff  whom  Sherrard  had  as- 
saulted a  few  days  before,  shot  him  in  the  forehead. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

One  circumstance  at  last  brought  to  a  sudden  close 
Gov.  Geary's  term  of  office.  When  he  had  disbanded 
the  three  thousand  ''Law  and  Order"  militia  that 
were  to  attack  Lawrence,  that  part  of  them  known  as 
the  Kickapoo  Rangers  were  returning  home  by  way  of 
Lecompton.  One  of  this  number  went  into  a  field 
where  "a  poor,  inoffensive,  lame  young  man"  named 
David  C.  Buffum  was  plowing,  and  demanded  his 
horses.  Buffum  protested  against  this  robbery,  but  the 
wretch  shot  Buffum  and  took  the  horses.  The  unhappy 
man  gave  the  following  account  of  the  matter : 

They  asked  me  for  my  horses.  I  told  them  I  was  a  cripple — a  poor 
lame  man — that  I  had  an  aged  father,  a  deaf  and  dumb  brother,  and 
two  sisters,  all  depending  on  me  for  a  living,  and  my  horses  were  all  I 

had.     One  of  them  said  I  was  a Abolitionist,  and,  taking  me 

by  the  shoulder,  he  shot  me. 

Gov.  Geary  was  returning  to  Lecompton,  and  hear- 
ing of  what  had  been  done,  he  called  with  Judge  Cato 
at  Buffum's  house,  and  by  the  Governor's  direction 
Judge  Cato  took  the  dying  man's  deposition.  Gov. 
Geary  was  terribly  shocked,  and  said  to  himself,  "I 
never  witnessed  a  scene  that  filled  me  with  so  much 
horror."  Mr.  Geary  sent  a  detective  on  the  track  of 
the  Kickapoo  Rangers,  and  found  that  the  murderer 
was  one  Charley  Hayes,  living  in  Atchison  county. 
He  had  the  horses  still  in  his  possession.  The  Gov- 

168 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  169 

ernor  ordered  his  arrest,  and  the  Grand  Jury  found  a 
bill  against  him  of  murder  in  the  first  degree.  Mean- 
time the  Free  State  men  came  to  the  Governor  making 
a  bitter  complaint  of  the  persecutions  they  were  suf- 
fering. They  said,  "Our  relatives  and  friends  are  ar 
rested  and  confined  for  weeks  and  months  in  a  filthy 
prison,  not  fit  for  dogs  to  live  in,  and  are  kept  without 
proper  food  or  clothing,  and  are  not  allowed  to  give 
bail  even  for  bailable  offenses  ;  while  murderers  of  the 
other  party  are  allowed  to  go  at  large  and  no  attention 
is  paid  to  them."  They  said,  '  The  murderers  of 
Dow,  Barber,  Brown,  Phillips,  Hoppe  and  Buffum, 
have  not  even  been  arrested  or  examined/' 

The  Governor  replied  that  he  had  already  ordered 
the  arrest  of  Hayes,  and  that  a  grand  jury  of  Pro- 
slavery  men  had  found  a  true  bill  against  him,  and  that 
Hayes  should  be  tried  for  his  life.  But  while  he  was 
yet  speaking  a  messenger  brought  word  that  Judge 
Lecompte  had  released  Hayes  on  bail,  and  that  Sheriff 
Jones  had  gone  on  his  bail  bond,  a  man  notoriously 
not  worth  a  dollar ;  and  this  when  the  crime  of  murder 
in  the  first  degree,  for  which  Hayes  had  been  indicted, 
was  not  a  bailable  offense.  The  Governor  was  terribly 
indignant,  and  ordered  Hayes  to  be  re-arrested.  But 
while  he  was  absent  at  the  land  sales  at  Fort  Leaven- 
worth,  Judge  Lecompte  a  second  time  set  this  wretch  at 
liberty.  Mr.  Geary  was  provoked  beyond  endurance, 
and  wrote  to  the  President  that  he  would  not  remain  in 
office  and  allow  such  a  scoundrel  to  be  kept  in  a  posi- 
tion to  pervert  the  ways  of  justice.  President  Pierce 
nominated  C.  O.  Harrison,  of  Kentucky,  to  take  Le- 
compte's  place,  but  for  some  unexplained  cause  the 
appointment  was  not  confirmed  in  the  Senate,  and 


I/O  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

Judge  Lecompte  retained  his  place,  and  in  unspeak 
able  disgust  Gov.  Geary  resigned,  making  his  resigna- 
tion take  effect  on  March  20,  1857.  Thus  he  had 
spent  a  winter  in  the  chamber  of  death  of  the  wicked 
old  Blue  Beard,  but  did  not  lose  his  official  head  till 
spring. 

The  writer  was  acquainted  with  the  family  of  this 
Charley  Hayes.  They  were  decent  sort  of  people  ; 
but  when  a  young  boy  Charley  went  on  the  plains, 
where  he  became  a  brutal  ruffian.  A  good  many 
years  ago  there  was  a  story  current  in  Atchison  county, 
that  when  this  Hayes  was  acting  as  wagon-boss  on  the 
plains,  in  a  train  owned  by  Russell,  Majors  &  Waddell, 
that  one  of  the  teamsters  having  offended  him  he  tied 
him  up  to  a  wheel  of  one  of  the  train  wagons,  and, 
holding  a  pistol  in  one  hand,  he  cowhided  him  with 
his  black-snake  whip  with  the  other.  And  this  team- 
ster was  a  white  man. 

But  there  are  avenging  furies  that  follow  a  man, 
even  though  the  law  does  not  reach  him.  There  is  a 
man  now  living  in  Atchison  county  whose  truthfulness 
has  never  been  questioned,  and  he  stated  that  he  spent 
a  winter  in  the  Missouri  River  bottoms,  sleeping  in  the 
same  cabin  with  Charley  Hayes,  and  that  it  seemed  as 
if  the  devil  had  a  mortgage  on  the  ruffian's  soul,  and 
tormented  him  in  his  sleep  with  images  of  the  horrors 
that  awaited  him  m  the  future  world.  That  it  seemed 
as  if  he  was  wrestling  in  mortal  struggle  with  the  men 
he  had  maltreated  and  murdered,  and  that  they  were 
choking  him  to  death.  Hayes  afterwards  died  of  a 
consumption  presumably  brought  on  by  his  dissipated 
habits  and  by  his  debaucheries. 

Meantime  the  writer  had  started  for  Illinois  the  pre- 


PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS.  I /I 

ceding  summer,  had  been  prostrated  for  four  weeks 
with  a  fever,  and  late  in  the  autumn  of  1856  had  re- 
turned to  Kansas,  there  to  remain.  The  times  were 
becoming  quiet,  the  peaceful  counsels  of  such  leaders 
as  Stringfellow  and  Abell  were  beginning  to  take  effect, 
and  it  evidently  would  be  safe  for  the  writer  to  go  to 
work  on  his  claim.  But  he  needed  a  supply  of  corn, 
and  had  to  go  over  into  the  Missouri  River  bottoms  to 
buy  it.  A  heavy  snow  had  fallen.  I  had  a  heavy, 
well-trained  yoke  of  oxen,  and  my  faithful  riding  horse 
was  obedient  in  every  place.  Myself  and  brother-in- 
law  had  made  a  heavy  Yankee  sled  that  would  hold  all 
the  load  that  was  put  on  it.  I  borrowed  from  my 
neighbor,  Caleb  May,  two  additional  yoke  of  oxen, 
but  they  only  knew  how  to  pull  in  a  big  freighting 
team,  and  were  not  leaders.  But  putting  my  own 
heavy  oxen  behind,  my  wild  steers  in  the  middle,  and 
my  horse  in  the  lead,  I  made  out  a  good  freighting 
team.  But  I  had  to  pass  through  Atchison.  The 
business  men  of  the  place  had  already  made  this  over- 
ture to  me.  They  had  said  :  "  You  can  come  to  At- 
chison during  the  day  time  and  we  will  guarantee  that 
you  shall  not  be  molested,  but  we  would  rather  you 
should  not  be  here  in  the  night.  The  South  Caro- 
linians are  here,  and  there  are  other  desperate  charac- 
ters here,  and  in  the  night  we  do  not  know  what  might 
happen.  "  And  so,  on  the  strength  of  such  an  agree- 
ment, I  had  done  business  in  Atchison,  and  to  get  my 
corn  across  the  river  had  gone  over  one  day  and  back 
the  next. 

I  had  yet  one  more  load  of  corn  to  haul.  There 
had  been  a  thaw,  and  then  the  snow  had  frozen  again, 
making  it  in  many  places  slippery  traveling.  The 


PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS. 

river  bank,  from  the  top  of  the  bank  down  to  the  ice 
of  the  river,  was  about  twenty  feet,  and  very  steep  ; 
and  this  by  much  traveling  had  become  a  perfect  glare 
of  ice,  so  that  teams  could  not  hold  their  footing  at 
all.  I  had  gone  over  for  my  last  load  one  day,  in- 
tending to  return  the  next  day,  but  I  had  found  unex- 
pected hindrances,  and  when  I  got  to  the  east  bank  of 
the  river  opposite  Atchison,  it  was  sometime  after 
dark.  I  got  down  as  best  I  could  and  crossed  over  on 
the  ice  to  the  Atchison  side  of  the  river,  and  I  was 
now  to  get  up  that  bank  of  glare  ice.*  I  placed  my 
sled  load  of  corn  at  the  bottom  of  the  bank,  and  tak- 
ing my  team  up  in  an  unfrequented  place,  I  stationed 
them  on  the  top  of  the  bank  directly  above  my  load 
of  corn  at  the  bottom.  Before  coming  over  I  had  cut 
a  long,  slender  pole  in  the  timbered  bottoms,  and  in 
view  of  this  contingency  had  also  brought  extra  chains 
from  home,  and  by  means  of  the  chains  and  this  long 
pole  I  hitched  my  team  on  the  top  of  the  hill  to  my 
load  of  corn  at  the  bottom.  The  thing  worked  well, 
and  I  had  my  load  well  on  the  top  of  the  bank  on  the 
level  ground ;  but  here  the  road  turned  suddenly  to 
the  left  close  along  the  river  bank,  and  my  horse,  too 
eager  to  get  home,  turned  too  soon,  and  this  brought 
my  sled  with  a  sudden  crash  against  a  rock,  and  down 
went  my  load  to  the  bottom  of  the  bank  again.  A 
chain  had  broken,  and  now  my  load  of  corn  was  left 
in  such  a  position  that  I  evidently  could  not  get  it  up 
again  without  help.  In  the  hindrances  to  which  I  had 
been  subjected  it  had  come  to  be  9  o'clock.  I  looked 

*When  father  reached  the  east  bank  it  was  so  slippery  that  the  oxen  would 
not  go  down.  So  he  hitched  them  to  the  back  of  the  sled,  and,  with  a  handspike, 
pried  it  to  the  edge  of  the  bank,  and  started  it  down.  Of  course  it  slid  down  the 
hill,  and  pulled  the  oxen  with  it. 


PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS. 

about  and  saw  no  light  save  in  a  saloon  that  had  been 
built  under  the  bluff  to  catch  custom,  for  this  was  the 
ferry  landing.  I  do  not  usually  visit  saloons,  but 
''necessity  knows  no  law,"  and  I  walked  in;  and 
whom  should  I  find  but  Grafton  Thomassen,  the  man 
that  made  the  raft  on  which  they  sent  me  down  the 
river,  sitting  and  playing  cards  with  a  number  of  South 
Carolinians  !  They  were  thunderstruck,  and  I  have  to 
confess  that  I  was  almost  as  much  taken  aback  as  they 
were.  But  I  spoke  to  them  and  said,  "Gentlemen, 
good  evening/'  Then  I  explained,  as  well  as  I  could, 
what  had  befallen  me,  and  that  I  had  come  in  for  as- 
sistance. But  they  were  dumb — they  never  spoke  a 
word.  I  waited  till  my  position  became  embarrassing, 
then  said,  ' '  Well,  gentlemen,  you  seem  to  be  busy, 
and  I  do  n't  want  to  interrupt ;  I  will  go  somewhere 
else."  I  had  already  opened  the  door  when  Grafton 
Thomassen  found  his  voice  and  said,  "  Boys,  it  is  not 
right  to  leave  Butler  without  help.  Let  us  go  and 
help  him."  "Yes  !  yes  !  yes !"  they  all  cried  at  once, 
"we  will  go  and  help  him."  And,  springing  to  their 
feet,  and  hastily  putting  on  their  overcoats,  hats  and 
gloves,  they  came  rushing  to  the  door,  saying,  "Yes! 
yes !  We  will  help  you.  What  is  it  we  can  do  for 
you  ?" 

I  went  with  them  to  the  river  bank,  pointed  out  my 
sled  loaded  with  corn  on  the  ice,  and  explained  to 
them  it  had  to  be  brought  up  the  bank.  They  asked 
incredulously,  "An'  kin  ye  haul  that  thar  slide  up  that 
slippery  bank?" 

"I  said,  "Yes,  I  have  done  it  once"  then  I  ex- 
plained how  the  chain  had  broken,  and  how  my  load 
of  corn  had  gone  down  onto  the  ice  again. 


PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS. 

They  exclaimed,  ' '  O  !  Well  now  !  We  have  come 
all  the  way  from  South  Carliny  to  see  a  Yankee  trick 
an'  haint  we  got  it?" 

They  were  eager  to  help,  sp  as  to  see  the  fun. 
When  everything  was  ready  I  gave  my  horse  in  charge 
of  one  of  them,  saying  to  him  he  must  in  nowise  let 
the  horse  turn  till  the  load  of  corn  was  well  up  and  in  the 
traveled  road,  then  gave  the  word  to  start.  My  team 
was  eager  to  pull,  for  they  were  getting  impatient; 
and  in  fine  style  they  brought  the  load  up  on  the  level 
ground,  and  then  immediately  were  in  front  of  the 
saloon,  and  I  called  a  halt.  When  we  got  everything 
fixed  I  said  to  them,  "  Gentlemen,  I  thank  you.  You 
have  done  me  a  real  kindness.  But  the  night  is  cold" 
— and  handing  one  of  them  a  piece  of  silver,  I  said, 
"Please  take  that  and  get  something  to  warm  you." 

He  took  it  and  with  something  of  hesitation  said, 
"  Won't  you  come  in  and  drink  with  us?" 

I  replied.  ' '  Please  excuse  me.  You  know  me  ; 
you  know  I  do  n't  drink.  But  all  the  same  I  want  you 
to  take  it." 

He  said  rather  proudly,  "  We  did  not  work  for  you 
for  pay.  We  did  it  to  oblige  you." 

But  I  insisted.  I  said,  "  You  did  me  a  real  kind- 
ness, and  I  want  to  do  you  a  kindness  in  return.  I 
want  you  to  take  it."  Then  they  bade  me  good  night 
and  went  into  the  saloon. 

The  wind  had  been  rising,  and  the  snow  was  drifting ; 
and  it  was  evident  that  in  many  places  the  road  would 
be  obliterated,  and  I  had  a  long  stretch  of  prairie  to 
travel  over  on  which  there  was  not  a  human  habitation. 
It  was  dangerous  to  undertake  it,  and  I  had  to  stay  in 
Atchison.  I  found  an  empty  corral,  where  my  teams 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  175 

would  be  decently  sheltered,  and  went  to  the  only 
hotel  in  town.  The  sleeping  room  they  assigned  me 
was  separated  from  the  bar-room  only  by  a  thin  board 
partition,  and  I  could  hear  every  word  that  was  said. 
This  hotel  was  the  boarding-place  of  the  South  Caro- 
linians, and  they  soon  began  to  drop  in  from  about 
town,  and  word  was  passed  among  them  that  Butler 
was  in  the  house.  Then  one  fellow,  who  was  de- 
cidedly drunk,  got  turbulent,  and  protested,  with 
terrible  oaths,  that  such  a  man  should  not  stay  in 
the  house,  but  that  he  would  go  in  and  drag  him  out 
of  bed.  Then  another  company  came  in  and  de- 
manded :  ' '  What 's  all  this  fussing  about  ?' '  These  were 
my  friends,  the  South  Carolinians  from  under  the  bluff. 
They  heard  what  this  fellow  had  to  say,  then  said : 
"This  thing  has  to  be  dried  up."  They  then  told 
what  had  happened  down  at  the  river,  and  concluded : 
"  Butler  is  a  gentleman.  He  talks  like  a  gentleman  ; 
he  treats  like  a  gentleman  ;  he  came  into  this  house  like 
a  gentleman,  and  we  will  show  him  that  we  are  gentle- 
men." And  when  the  drunken  fellow  became  up- 
roarious they  hustled  him  off  to  bed. 

I  was  evidently  among  friends,  and  slept  soundly 
and  without  apprehension  till  morning.  I  never  saw 
my  South  Carolina  friends  again.  They  returned  home 
at  an  early  day. 

They  had  not  made  Kansas  a  slave  state,  but  they 
had  seen  a  Yankee  trick. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

Gov.  Geary,  sick  in  body  and  sick  at  heart,  had 
left  the  Territory  in  fear  of  private  assassination,  his 
best  friends  at  Lecompton  being  the  treason  prisoners. 
These,  with  something  of  bitterness,  remarked  that 
the  Governor  went  away  in  such  haste  that  he  had  for- 
gotten to  pardon  them  as  he  had  promised ;  and  thus 
while  he  got  had  out  of  prison,  they  still  stayed  in. 

The  party  in  power  at  Lecompton  had  said  to  the 
President  at  Washington  :  "  We  are  sick  of  Northern 
Governors.  They  won't  do  to  tie  to.  For  pity's  sake 
give  us  a  man  from  the  South."  And  so  a  Southern 
Governor  was  given  them  in  the  person  of  Robert  J. 
Walker.  Rehoboam,  the  son  of  Solomon,  said  to  the 
Jews:  "My  little  finger  shall  be  thicker  than  my 
father's  loins."  So  this  Lecompton  party  found  the 
little  finger  of  this  Southern  Governor  to  be  thicker 
than  the  loins  of  Gov.  Geary. 

Mr.  W.  stood  so  high  in  public  position  that  no 
man  stood  higher  than  himself,  save  alone  the  Presi- 
dent. He  had  been  a  Senator  from  Mississippi,  and  had 
been  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  in  Mr.  Pierce's  Cabi- 
net. The  complications  of  this  Kansas  question  had 
become  such  as  to  call  for  a  man  of  the  highest  rank 
and  ability.  The  main  object  of  Mr.  Walker's  mis- 
sion to  Kansas  was  to  induce  the  Free  State  people  to 

vote  at  the  Territorial  elections,  which  alone  were  ap- 
176 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  177 

pointed  by  the  government  at  Washington,  and  recog- 
nized by  it.  Until  he  could  accomplish  this,  nothing 
was  done  toward  the  pacification  of  the  Territory. 
To  induce  them  to  do  this,  he  pledged  to  the  Free 
State  men  a  fair  election.  But  he  found  that  he  was 
speaking  to  ears  that  could  not  hear.  He  had  said  in 
his  inaugural  address  with  all  apparent  fairness : 

I  can  not  doubt  that  the  Convention,  after  having  framed  a  State 
constitution,  will  submit  it  for  ratification  or  rejection  by  a  majority  of 
the  actual  bonafide,  resident  settlers  of  Kansas. 

With  these  views  well  known  to  the  President  and  Cabinet,  and 
approved  by  them,  I  accepted  the  appointment  of  Governor  of  Kansas ; 
my  instructions  from  the  President,  through  the  Secretary  of  State,  un- 
der date  of  the  3Oth  of  March  last,  sustain  the  regular  Legislature  of 
the  Territory  in  assembling  a  convention  to  form  a  constitution,  and  they 
express  the  opinion  of  the  President  that  when  such  a  constitution  shall 
be  submitted  to  the  people  of  the  Territory,  they  must  be  protected  in 
their  right  of  voting  for  or  against  that  instrument ;  and  the  fair  expres- 
sion of  the  popular  will  must  not  be  interrupted  by  fraud  or  violence. 

This  seemed  very  fair,  but  what  did  it  amount  to ! 
The  people  knew  that  the  Governor  must  consent  to 
be  a  mere  cat's  paw  and  convenience  of  these  conspir- 
ators, or  else  be  unceremoniously  thrust  aside ;  and 
that  the  authorities  at  Washington  would  sustain  them 
and  not  him.  This  had  been  the  fate  of  Reeder,  of 
Shannon  and  of  Geary,  and  this  also  would  be  the  fate 
of  the  present  Governor.  Dr.  Gihon,  on  behalf  of  Mr. 
Geary,  had  bitterly  complained  that  there  was  not  a 
single  officer  in  the  Territory  responsible  either  to  the 
people  or  to  the  Governor ;  that  all  were  the  appointees 
of  the  Legislature,  and  responsible  to  it  alone.  The 
Lecompton  Legislature  had  passed  a  bill  calling  a  con- 
vention to  frame  a  State  constitution  ;  and  Gov.  Geary 
had  vetoed  the  bill  because  it  made  no  provision  for 
submitting  the  constitution,  when  framed,  to  a  vote  of 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

the  people ;  and  the  Legislature  had  passed  the  bill 
over  his  veto,  and  now  what  power  had  Gov.  Walker 
in  the  matter  more  that  Gov.  Geary? 

An  event  happened  at  that  time  that  was  a  nine 
days'  wonder,  and  a  nine  days'  talk  among  the  people ; 
and  yet  it  does  not  seem  to  have  been  put  on  record 
in  any  extant  history  of  the  period.  The  Governor 
had  sought  the  privilege  of  addressing  the  Free  State 
people  on  this  question  of  voting,  which  he  made  his 
hobby.  It  was  at  a  meeting  at  Big  Springs.  Gen. 
Lane  was  present,  as  also  were  a  large  number  of  Free 
State  men,  and  the  Governor  had  pressed  on  them,  as 
the  only  road  out  of  their  difficulties,  the  necessity  of 
voting  at  those  Territorial  elections,  which  alone  were 
recognized  by  the  government  at  Washington. 

Gen.  Lane  arose  to  reply,  and  in  a  speech  of  terri- 
ble energy  and  power  he  arraigned  the  Lecompton 
party  for  all  their  wrongs  and  outrages ;  then,  when 
he  had  reached  the  climax  of  his  argument,  he  leaned 
forward,  and,  looking  at  Mr.  Walker  from  beneath  his 
shaggy  eyebrows  with  his  deepset,  piercing  black  eyes, 
and  shaking  at  him  his  long  bony  ringer,  his  whole 
frame  quivering  with  passion,  he  said  in  his  deep  gut- 
tural tones,  which  seemed  more  like  the  growl  of  a 
savage  wild  beast  than  the  voice  of  a  human  being: 
"  Gov-er-nor  Wal-ker,  y-o-u  c-a-n-t  con-t-r-ol  your 
allies  r 

The  effect  was  prodigious  ;  and  the  Free  State  men 
were  swept  away  as  with  a  whirlwind.  Even  Gov. 
Walker  felt  the  force  of  the  appeal.  But  he  showed 
himself  a  brave  man ;  and  came  back  resolutely  to  the 
battle.  He  said:  "/  am  your  Governor!  You  must 
admit  that  I  have  at  least  a  legal  right  to  control  my 


PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS.  179 

allies,  so  far  as  to  give  you  a  fair  election ;  and  I  pledge 
you  my  word  and  honor  that  I  will  do  it.  Now  try 
me !  and  see  if  I  do  not  keep  my  word !" 

The  Free  State  men  began  to  falter  and  to  ask  each 
other,  ' '  Is  it  not  best  to  try  the  Governor,  and  see  if 
he  will  be  as  good  as  his  word  ?"  And  from  this  time 
forward  there  began  to  appear  a  division  in  the  Free 
State  ranks ;  which  sometimes  grew  to  be  bitter  and 
acrimonious.  This  division  had  indeed  begun  to  ap- 
pear one  year  before,  when  on  the  Fourth  of  July  Col. 
Sumner  had  dispersed  the  Free  State  Legislature  at 
Topeka.  Gov.  Robinson  was  at  that  time  a  prisoner, 
and  was,  therefore,  not  present;  but  he  said  in  his 
next  annual  message  as  Free  State  Governor  : 

When  your  bodies  met,  pursuant  to  adjournment,  in  July  last,  your 
assembly  was  interfered  with  and  broken  up  by  a  large  force  of  United 
States  troops  in  battle  array,  who  drove  you  hence,  in  gross  violation  of 
those  constitutianal  rights  which  it  'was  your  duty  to  have  protected. 

Wm.  A.  Phillips,  correspondent  of  the  New  York 
Tribune,  and  afterwards  a  member  of  Congress,  was  a 
man  terribly  in  earnest,  and  he  did,  on  the  above- 
named  Fourth  of  July,  in  a  speech,  take  the  position 
that  we  ought  to  fight  for  our  rights  and  defy  Col. 
Sumner  and  his  dragoons.  The  men  that  demanded 
that  we  should  fight  said :  ' '  We  can  take  possession 
of  the  houses  and  fire  out  of  the  windows,  and  thus 
avoid  the  onset  of  Col.  Sumner's  cavalry."  But  the 
majority  said:  "  We  are  loyal  to  the  old  flag,  and  in 
no  case,  and  under  no  circumstances  will  be  found 
fighting  against  it."  It  was  this  more  conservative 
majority  that  began  to  demand  that  the  Free  State 
men  should  listen  to  Gov.  Walker's  overtures  and  vote 
at  the  coming  election. 


ISO  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

Gen.  Lane  had  been  uncompromising  in  defying 
the  Territorial  laws.  He  had  said:  "Gov.  Walker 
has  said,  '  Vote  next  week. '  What  for  ?  Have  we 
not  made  our  constitution  ?  And  do  not  the  people 
of  freedom  like  it  ?  Can  't  we  submit  this  to  the  people, 
and  who  wants  another?"  But  now  he  had  become 
at  the  first  reticent,  and  finally  said :  "Vote."  This 
singular  man  that  constantly  kept  on  exhibiting  his 
desperate  determination  to  resist  the  bogus  laws,  really 
kept  in  his  heart  the  one  supreme  purpose  to  make 
himself  the  oracle  of  the  prevailing  sentiment  among 
the  Free  State  men.  When,  therefore,  Gen.  Lane 
said,  "  Let  us  vote,"  it  was  good  evidence  that  this 
had  become  the  prevailing  sentiment  among  the  Free 
State  party. 

A  convention  was  held  at  Grasshopper  Falls,  Au- 
gust 26,  1857,  at  which  this  was  the  main  question, 
and  it  was  decided  in  favor  of  voting  at  the  coming 
election  of  Territorial  officers.  The  Hon.  Henry  Wil- 
son had  recently  visited  Kansas  from  Massachusetts, 
and  he  had  earnestly  entreated  the  Free  State  men  to 
vote.  Phillips,  Conway  and  Redpath  still  protested 
against  it.  Gov.  Robinson,  however,  gave  his  voice 
in  favor  of  voting. 

An  election  had  already  been  held  June  I5th  to 
elect  delegates  to  the  Lecompton  Constitutional  Con- 
vention, at  which  the  Free  State  men  had  taken  no 
part.  Fifteen  Free  State  counties  had  in  this  election 
been  disfranchished,  no  election  having  been  ordered 
in  them. 

At  the  election  of  Territorial  officers,  held  October 
6,  1857,  both  parties  turned  out.  The  Free  State  men 
cast  7,887  votes  for  the  Territorial  Legislature.  The 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  l8l 

Lecompton  party  was  reported  to  have  cast  6,466 
votes.  But  though  the  Free  State  men  had  a  numer- 
ical majority  of  votes,  yet  the  districts  had  been  so 
arranged  that  the  above  returns  gave  a  majority  in  the 
Legislature  to  the  Lecompton  party.  Johnson  county, 
bordering  on  Missouri,  had  been  united  in  one  district 
with  Douglas  county,  in  which  Lawrence  is  situated, 
and  this  district  had  been  given  eight  members.  Ox- 
ford precinct,  in  Johnson  county,  was  a  place  of  not 
over  a  dozen  houses,  and  polled  124  votes  for  township 
officers,  yet  it  reported  1,628  votes  for  the  Lecompton 
party.  When,  however,  Gov.  Walker  and  Mr.  Stan- 
ton  came  to  canvass  the  votes  they  threw  out  this  Ox- 
ford vote.  They  also  set  aside  1,200  fraudulent  votes 
in  McGee  county.  The  vote  at  Kickapoo,  equally 
fraudulent,  was  also  set  aside.  This  gave  a  majority 
to  the  Free  State  party  in  the  Lecompton  Territorial 
Legislature,  and  thus  Gov.  Walker  redeemed  his 
pledge  that  the  people  should  have  a  fair  election. 

Judge  Cato  felt  that  it  was  time  to  come  to  the 
rescue  of  his  friends,  and  issued  a  writ  directed  to 
"Robert  J.  Walker,  Governor  of  Kansas  Territory, 
and  Frederick  P.  Stanton,  secretary  of  the  same," 
commanding  these  gentlemen  to  issue  certificates  of 
election  to  the  men  who  appeared  to  be  elected  accord- 
ing to  the  original  returns.  Gov.  Walker  good- 
naturedly  refused  to  obey  the  order  of  the  court,  offer- 
ing to  submit  to  arrest  for  contempt  of  court,  and 
tendering  the  judge  a  posse  of  United  States  troops  to 
aid  in  making  the  arrest.  The  judge  began  to  see  that 
he  had  been  making  a  fool  of  himself,  and  dropped  the 
subject.  These  Territorial  judges  had  shown  them- 
selves capable  of  any  excess  of  villainy,  and  had  been 


l82  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

a  sure  refuge  in  every  time  of  trouble  to  this  Lecomp- 
ton  party ;  but  even  the  courts  had  now  failed  them, 
and  these  "  border  ruffian  "  judges  were  only  laughed 
at  by  this  Southern  Governor.  One  year  before,  these 
conspirators  had  assembled  an  army  to  drive  out  the 
Free  State  settlers,  and  to  give  the  Territory  into  the 
hands  of  the  South ;  but  Gov.  Geary  had  interfered  to 
thwart  their  purpose,  and,  what  was  worse,  a  majority 
of  the  leaders  of  that  army,  men  of  note  along  the 
Missouri  border,  had  declared  themselves  in  sym- 
pathy with  Mr.  Geary.  Then  they  had  asked  for  a 
Southern  Governor,  for  would  not  he  be  true  to  the 
South?  And  now  even  this  man  had  failed  them,  and 
had  given  the  control  of  the  Territorial  Legislature  into 
the  hands  of  the  Philistines!  They  were  indeed  in 
evil  case.  It  seemed  as  if  heaven  and  earth  had  com- 
bined against  them,  and  that  only  hell  was  on  their 
side.  One  last  chance  remained.  If  this  was  a  des- 
perate chance,  it  must  be  remembered  they  were  play- 
ing a  desperate  game— they  would  make  Kansas  a  slave 
State  in  spite  of  the  Governor,  in  spite  of  the  Terri- 
torial Legislature,  and  in  spite  of  the  people  of  Kansas. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

The  Convention  that  had  been  called  to  frame  a 
State  Constitution,  and  in  which  election  the  Free  State 
men  had  taken  no  part,  had  met  to  do  its  work  in 
September  of  1857,  and  finished  in  November;  but  to 
the  last  it  refused  to  make  provision  to  submit  the  Con- 
stitution, when  framed,  to  a  vote  of  the  people,  for 
acceptance  or  rejection.  But  in  place  of  this  thing, 
had  virtually  said  to  them :  ' '  You  must  accept  this 
Constitution  whether  you  like  it  or  not.  We  will  allow 
you  to  vote  for  the  Constitution  with  slavery  ;  or,  for 
the  Constitution  without  slavery ;  but  you  must  vote  in 
every  contingency/}?;'  the  Constitution." 

But  admitting  the  people  had  voted  for  the  Constitu- 
tion without  slavery,  still  a  trap  was  set  for  them  in 
the  following  proviso,  which  would  still  remain  an  in- 
tegral part  of  the  Constitution. 

' '  If,  upon  such  examination  of  such  poll-books  it 
shall  appear  that  a  majority  of  the  legal  votes  cast  at 
said  election  be  in  favor  of  the  '  Constitution  with  no 
slavery/  then  the  article  providing  for  slavery  shall  be 
stricken  from  this  Constitution,  and  slavery  shall  no 
longer  exist  in  the  State  of  Kansas ;  except  that  the 
right  of  property  in  slaves  now  in  this  Territory  shall  in 
no  manner  be  interfered  with." 

Thus,  which  ever  way  they  should  vote,  Kansas 
would  still  remain  a  slave  State.  Of  course  the  Free 


184  PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS. 

State  men  did  not  walk  into  the  trap,  but  staid  away  from 
the  election,  which  was  ordered  for  December  21, 
1857;  and  the  Constitution  was  adopted  by  a  strictly 
one-sided  vote.  And  now  Gov.  Walker  began  to  real- 
ize in  the  bitterness  of  his  heart  that  ' '  uneasy  lies  the 
head  of  him  that  wears  a  crown."  He  had  staked  his 
manhood,  his  veracity,  his  honor,  his  everything,  that 
this  Constitution,  when  framed,  should  be  submitted 
to  a  vote  of  the  people  for  acceptance  or  rejection, 
and  now  he  was  to  be  put  to  shame  in  the  eyes  of  the 
whole  world ;  and  Gen.  Lane  was  proved  a  true 
prophet  when  he  had  said  to  the  Governor  with  such 
withering  power:  "  Gov.  Walker,  you  can't  control 
your  allies."  Mr.  Walker  was  able  to  show  a  private 
letter  from  President  Buchanan,  assuring  him  in  the 
most  positive  terms,  that  this  Constitution,  when 
framed,  should  be  submitted  to  a  vote  of  the  people ; 
but  of  what  avail  was  such  a  promise  ?  There  was  a 
power  behind  the  throne  at  Washington  stronger  than 
the  throne  itself;  and  Gov.  W.  was  able  to  see  what 
a  hollow  mockery  was  that  power  which  he  supposed 
himself  to  possess. 

The  Governor  made  known  to  the  people  that  he 
would  be  absent  on  business  for  three  or  four  weeks ; 
and  he  went  away  to  Washington,  never  more  to  re- 
turn. There  was  neither  pity  nor  justice  for  him  there ; 
and  in  unspeakable  disgust  he  resigned ;  and  Mr. 
Stanton  took  the  oath  of  office  and  reigned  as  Governor 
for  one  month.  Then  he  also  was  removed,  and  Gov. 
Denver  took  his  place.  Thus,  five  Kansas  Governors 
had  each  in  their  turn  been  officially  decapitated. 
Stanton  had  been  superseded  by  Denver  because  he 
had  called  a  special  session  of  the  now  Free  State 


PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS.  185 

Legislature,  and  it  had  ordered  an  immediate  election 
to  vote  for  or  against  the  Lecompton  Constitution,  and 
at  this  election  10,226  votes  were  polled  against  it. 

It  had  been  intended  that  under  whip  and  spur 
Kansas  should  be  admitted  by  Congress  as  a  slave  State 
before  the  time  should  arrive  for  the  regular  assem- 
bling of  the  Territorial  Legislature,  which  had  now 
passed  into  the  hands  of  the  Free  State  men ;  but  by 
calling  a  special  session  of  the  Legislature,  he  had  en- 
abled that  body  to  order  an  immediate  election,  that 
should  give  official  evidence  that  an  overwhelming 
majority  of  the  people  were  opposed  to  the  Lecompton 
Constitution. 

And  now  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  at  Washington, 
came  forward  as  State  Senator  from  Illinois  and  made 
it  impossible  that  Kansas  should  be  admitted  as  a  State 
unless  that  document  should  first  be  submitted  to  the 
people  for  acceptance  or  rejection.  A  bill  to  this 
effect  was  finally  passed  by  Congress.  It  was  called 
the  English  bill.  It  proffered  a  magnificent  bribe  if 
the  people  would  accept  the  Lecompton  Constitution 
— five  million  five  hundred  thousand  acres  of  public 
land  should  be  given  to  Kansas  ;  besides  other  munifi- 
cent donations.  But  the  English  bill  also  contained  a 
menace  as  well  as  a  bribe.  It  threatened  that  if  the 
people  rejected  this  offer  they  should  be  remanded 
back  for  an  indefinite  period,  to  all  the  miseries  of  a 
Territorial  life. 

In  the  face  of  such  a  menace,  and  tempted  by  such 
a  bribe,  the  whole  voting  population  of  the  Territory 
turned  out  at  the  election,  which  was  ordered  to  be 
held  August  2,  1858.  At  this  election,  1,788  votes 
were  cast  for  the  Constitution,  and  9,512  against  it. 


1 86  PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS. 

From  whence  then  came  this  overwhelming  majority  ? 
The  majority  of  the  Free  State  party  was  about  two 
to  one.  "Wilder's  Annals,"  the  best  extant  Free 
State  authority,  puts  it  at  this.  "The  Free  State  or 
Republican  party  has  carried  every  election  in  Kansas 
since  this  date  (1857),  usually  by  two  to  one. "  But 
here  is  a  majority  of  six  to  one ;  and  we  must  go  out- 
side of  the  Free  State  or  Republican  party  to  find  it. 
Dr.  John  H.  Stringfellow  wrote  at  this  time  to  the 
Washington  Union  against  the  admission  of  Kansas 
under  the  Lecompton  Constitution.  He  says:  "To 
do  so  will  break  down  the  Democratic  party  at  the 
North,  and  seriously  endanger  the  interests  and  peace 
of  Missouri  and  Kansas,  if  not  of  the  whole  Union." 

Judge  Tutt,  of  St.  Joseph,  Mo.,  had  said  to  the 
South  Carolinians:  "I  was  born  in  Virginia,  and  have 
lived  forty  years  in  Missouri.  I  am  a  slave-holder, 
and  a  Pro-slavery  man ;  and  I  desire  Kansas  to  be 
made  a  slave  State,  if  it  can  be  done  by  honorable  means. 
But  you  will  break  down  the  cause  you  are  seeking  to 
build  up."  And  Judge  Tutt  voiced  the  sentiments  of 
a  large  number  of  Pro-slavery  men  and  slave-holders 
in  Kansas. 

The  city  of  Atchison  gave  a  majority  of  votes 
against  the  Lecompton  Constitution ;  and  Atchison 
county  gave  a  majority  of  almost  three  to  one  against 
it ;  and  Leavenworth  city,  which  two  years  before  had 
been  the  theater  of  such  murders,  riots  and  robberies, 
gave  a  majority  against  the  proposition  of  the  English 
bill  of  more  than  ten  to  one,  notwithstanding  the  huge 
bribe  offered  if  the  people  would  accept  it. 

We  are  writing  these  "Recollections"  for  posterity 
as  well  as  for  the  present  generation.  It  is  only  the 


PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS.  187 

verdict  of  posterity  that  will  justly  estimate  the  men 
and  the  influences  that  went  to  make  up  the  final  result 
of  the  early  Kansas  struggle.  Up  to  the  present  time 
the  writers  that  have  written  on  this  subject  have  been 
too  near  the  battle,  and  themselves  too  much  a  party 
in  it,  to  write  with  perfect  impartiality.  Southern  and 
Pro-slaver}'  writers  and  speakers  have  not  been  able  to 
admit  that  Southern  men  were  the  original  wrong-doers ; 
while  Northern  and  Free  State  writers  have  not  been 
able  to  rise  to  the  level  of  such  fair  dealing,  as  to  ad- 
mit that  when  the  decisive  vote  was  cast  that  deter- 
mined the  question  of  freedom  and  slavery  in  Kansas, 
as  absolutely  as  it  had  already  been  determined  in 
Ohio,  Indiana  and  Illinois,  the  Free  State  people  were 
indebted  to  the  nobility  of  heart  and  elevation  of 
mind,  displayed  by  Southern  and  Pro-slavery  men  in 
making  the  vote  so  overwhelming  as  to  put  the  ques- 
tion beyond  the  possibility  of  controversy  forever ;  yet 
this  was  done  in  the  unprecedented  vote  of  six  to  one, 
cast  in  condemnation  of  the  Lecompton  Constitution. 

From  this  time  forward  the  two  parties  that  had 
been  struggling  with  each  other  for  four  years  in  such 
fierce  antagonism  were  dead  ;  and  in  their  place  have 
appeared  the  two  political  parties  that  are  found  through- 
out the  United  States ;  and  the  lines  of  difference  be- 
tween the  men  of  the  South  and  the  men  of  the  North 
have  been  as  completely  obliterated  in  thirty  years,  as 
they  were  obliterated  in  Old  England,  between  Saxon  and 
Norman,  after  500  years  of  savage  strife  and  turmoil. 

And  now,  if  the  superior  races  of  the  world  have 
been  formed  by  the  amalgamation  of  the  kindred 
stocks,  may  we  not  believe  that  Providence  has  been 
preparing  in  this  central  State  a  people  that  shall  bear 


1 88  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

a  distinguished  part  in  that  mighty  battle  that  is  so 
swiftly  coming  to  the  American  nation,  in  which  we 
will  be  called  to  fight  against  a  Christian  barbarism 
and  a  paganized  Christianity,  for  all  that  is  precious 
in  our  Christian  civilization,  and  for  all  that  is  true  and 
good  in  our  American  form  of  government? 

Rome  fell  under  an  invasion  by  foreign  barbarians; 
so  an  inundation  of  the  barbarians  of  the  world  is 
pouring  in  on  us,  and  threatens  to  swallow  us  up  ;  it 
is  like  the  flood  the  dragon  poured  out  of  his  mouth. 
Of  our  duties  growing  out  of  this  catastrophe  we  shall 
write  hereafter. 

The  writer  of  these  "Recollections"  is  a  fallible 
man,  like  other  fallible  man.  He  has  shown  at  least 
this,  that  he  is  ready  to  stand  by  hi-s  convictions,  living 
and  dying ;  and  he  holds  this  conviction  fixed  and  im- 
mutable, that  there  is  a  crisis  coming  on  us  of  over- 
topping and  overwhelming  magnitude,  and  demanding 
the  American  people  should  come  together  and  look 
each  other  honestly  in  the  face,  that  they  may  take 
into  their  hearts  this  weight  and  extent  of  the  reasons 
that  call  that  they  should  join  in  united  effort  for  the 
salvation  of  the  nation  and  the  conversion  of  the 
world ;  and  that  this  does  not  allow  that  there  shall  be 
anything  of  flimsy,  shallow,  or  hypocritical  conceal- 
ment of  the  facts  of  our  history. 

The  world  has  had  abundant  experience  of  these 
border  feuds.  Scotland  had  her  feuds  between  her 
Highlands  and  Lowlands.  In  Ireland  there  has  been 
unceasing  enmity  for  250  years  between  her  Protestant 
and  Catholic  populations.  The  French  and  English 
peoples  of  Canada  are  never  at  peace  with  each  other; 
and  now  there  is  a  feud  that  can  not  be  healed  between 


PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS.  1 89 

England  and  Ireland.  In  some  of  the  mountain  regions 
of  the  Southern  States,  where  the  people  yet  retain 
the  clannish  temper  of  their  Scotch  and  Irish  ancestors, 
there  are  neighborhood  enmities  that  go  down  from 
father  to  son,  from  generation  to  generation ;  and  that 
issue  in  such  fist- fights,  brawls,  and  mobs,  as  some- 
times to  tax  the  whole  energy  of  the  public  authorities 
to  suppress  them.  And  now,  with  such  foundation 
laid  for  the  indefinite  perpetuation  of  similar  feuds  in 
Kansas,  we  do  argue  that  it  has  manifested  on  the  part 
of  our  population  no  ordinary  qualities  of  heart  and 
soul,  that  they  were  so  soon  able  to  eliminate  from 
among  themselves  their  turbulent  and  dangerous  ele- 
ments. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

The  men  that  had  settled  in  Kansas  were  generally 
poor,  and  few  had  any  reserved  fund  from  which  to 
draw  their  support,  but  were  literally  dependent  for 
their  daily  bread  on  their  labor  day  by  day ;  and  to 
take  away  the  horses  of  such  a  man  was  literally  to 
take  the  bread  out  of  the  mouths  of  his  children. 
Free  State  men  and  Pro-slavery  men  had  each  in  turn 
been  thus  despoiled  and  compelled  to  flee  the  Terri- 
tory ;  or  if  they  remained  they  were  paralyzed  and 
unfitted  for  work. 

But  the  spring  and  summer  of  1857  nacl  brought 
a  new  order  of  things.  Gov.  Geary  had  put  an  end 
to  these  disorders,  and  the  presence  of  S.  C.  Pomeroy 
and  other  Free  State  men  in  Atchison  was  an  addi- 
tional guarantee  of  peace  and  security.  As  a  result 
the  Kansas  squatters  had  gone  to  work  with  a  will. 
Old  things  had  passed  away,  and  all  things  had  become 
new.  There  did  indeed  remain  a  chronic  state  of  dis- 
order in  Southeastern  Kansas ;  but  this  was  local  and 
exceptional. 

But  religious  and  thoughtful  men  looked  far  be- 
yond this  question  of  what  shall  we  eat  and  what 
shall  we  drink,  and  wherewithal  shall  we  be 
clothed?  Intemperate  habits  were  growing  fast  on 
the  people.  Coarse  profanity  and  ribald  speech 

were    becoming     so     common     as    to    be    the    rule 
190 


PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS.  19! 

and  not  the  exception.  Fathers  and  mothers  began  to 
tremble  when  they  thought  what  their  boys  were  com- 
ing to ;  and  this  turned  their  thoughts  to  the  question 
of  schools  and  churches.  Then  all  the  denominations 
simultaneously  began  their  work.  A  church  was  or- 
ganized at  Leavenworth  by  our  brethren,  in  which  S. 
A.  Marshall  and  W.  S.  Yohe  were  the  leading  mem- 
bers. Dr.  Marshall  had  formerly  been  a  resident  of 
Pennsylvania,  and  W.  S.  Yohe  was  from  the  South,  a 
slave-holder,  a  man  of  considerable  wealth,  and  of 
eminent  personal  excellence. 

The  church  that  had  been  built  up  in  1855  at  Mt. 
Pleasant  had  fallen  to  pieces  in  the  troublous  times, 
and  was  now  reorganized  at  what  has  come  to  be 
known  as  "The  Old  Union  School  House,"  a  place 
that  has  been  hallowed  to  precious  memories,  because 
of  the  great  revival  that  took  place  under  the  labors  of 
D.  S.  Burnett  in  the  year  1858. 

The  brethren  that  lived  along  the  valley  of  the 
Stranger  Creek  and  its  tributaries,  and  that  had  met  to 
worship  two  years  before  under  the  spreading  eluas  that 
lined  its  bottoms,  now  organized  themselves  into  a 
church  at  a  village  called  Pardee.  This  ambitious  little 
town  was  located  on  the  high  prairie ;  but  it  shared 
the  fate  of  many  other  Kansas  towns,  equally  aspiring 
and  equally  ill-fated.  When  the  railroads  were  built 
they  followed  the  courses  of  the  streams,  and  it  was 
left  out  in  the  cold ;  but  for  a  time  it  was  the  center  of 
social,  political  and  religious  influence  in  the  county 
outside  of  Atchison. 

Among  the  brethren  that  had  been  in  Kansas  from 
its  first  settlement,  and  whom  we  have  not  mentioned, 
were  John  and  Jacob  Graves,  brothers  from  Tennessee, 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

who  have  since  grown  rich  in  worldly  goods,  and  richer 
still  in  good  works.  There  were  also  Brethren  Lan- 
drum  and  Schell,  and  many  others  whom  we  can  not 
name.  In  the  fall  of  1857  came  Lewis  Brockman, 
who  loved  the  church  more  than  he  loved  his  own  life. 
He  was  brother  to  that  Col.  Thomas  Brockman  con- 
spicuous in  the  Mormon  war  in  Illinois,  which  re- 
sulted in  the  exodus  of  the  Mormons  to  Salt  Lake, 
there  to  build  up  a  kingdom  that  cherishes  a  deadly 
and  undying  hatred  to  the  United  States,  its  people, 
and  its  institutions.  Norman  Dunshee,  now  Professor 
in  Drake  University,  Des  Moines,  Iowa,  also  came  to 
Kansas  from  the  Western  Reserve  Eclectic  Institute 
at  Hiram,  O.,  in  the  fall  of  1859,  anc*  settled  at  Par- 
dee.  Dr.  S.  G.  Moore,  of  Camp  Point,  111.,  who 
came  in  the  spring  of  1857,  was  brother-in-law  to  Peter 
Garrett ;  and  these  two  men  were  of  one  heart  and  one 
soul  in  their  aspirations  for  a  larger  liberality  on  the 
part  of  Disciples  and  a  better  order  of  things  in  our 
churches;  but  they  had  to  take  up  the  sad  refrain  so 
oft  repeated  :  ' '  We  have  found  the  Old  Adam  too 
strong  for  the  young  Melancthon."  Dr.  Moore  was 
a  man  that,  when  he  knew  he  was  in  the  right,  pushed 
his  enterprises  with  such  a  rigorous  purpose  as  some- 
times to  alienate  from  himself  men  who  might  have 
been  won  by  a  more  complaisant  temper.  His  stay  in 
Kansas  was  limited.  The  dwelling  in  which  he  lived 
was  struck  by  lightning,  and  Bro.  and  Sister  Moore 
were  seriously  injured.  From  these  injuries  Sister 
Moore  has  never  fully  recovered.  With  broken  health 
she  becam-e  homesick,  and  pined  to  be  among  her 
kindred.  Moreover,  a  valuable  farm  that  Dr.  Moore 
had  sold  at  Camp  Point  fell  back  into  his  hands,  and 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  193 

he  felt  constrained  to  return  to  Illinois  in  1861.  With 
such  elements  of  power  the  reader  will  not  think  it 
strange  that  we  should  go  to  work  with  a  will  to  re- 
cover the  ground  we  had  lost  in  this  social  and  politi- 
cal turmoil  and  religious  inaction. 

The  writer  did  not  travel  much  abroad  this  sum- 
mer; he  found  too  much  to  do  at  home.  We  had 
meetings  every  Lord's  day,  and  had  frequent  additions 
by  letter  and  by  baptism.  One  day,  as  my  manner 
was,  I  gave  an  invitation  to  sinners  to  obey  the  gos- 
pel. There  had  been  no  indication,  however  remote, 
that  any  would  desire  baptism  ;  but  my  daughter,  Ro- 
setta,  now  thirteen  years  of  age,  came  forward  and 
demanded  to  be  baptized.  Two  years  before  I  had 
brought  her,  then  eleven  years  of  age,  with  her  mother, 
to  Kansas.  Some  part  of  this  time  we  had  spent  in 
the  very  presence  of  death ;  and  Rosetta  and  her 
mother  would  not  have  thought  it  strange  if  a  com- 
pany of  men  had  come  into  the  house  at  night  with 
murderous  intent.  I  have  not  told  in  these  "  Recol- 
lections" how  many  times  I  felt  it  expedient  to  be 
away  from  home ;  and  then  Rosetta  was  her  mother's 
only  companion.  Of  young  company  such  as  girls 
usually  have  at  her  age,  she  had  almost  none.  We 
had  talked  of  these  daily  occurring  tragedies  until  they 
had  lost  both  their  terror  and  their  novelty.  These 
certainly  were  not  fitting  surroundings  for  a  little  girl, 
intelligent  and  thoughtful  beyond  her  years,  and  of  an 
unduly  sensitive  and  nervous  organization.  But  she 
was  her  mother's  only  girl,  this  was  our  only  home, 
and,  coming  out  of  the  furnace  fires  of  such  a  life,  we 
could  not  think  it  strange  that  she  should  feel  the  need 
of  a  Heavenly  Father  in  whom  she  could  trust,  of  a 


194  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

Savior's  arm  on  which  she  could  lean,  and  of  a  home 
in  the  church  where  she  could  find  help  and  sympathy. 

One  thought  was  ever  present  in  my  heart/ how  far 
could  brethren  co-operate  together  who  had  been  on 
opposite  sides?  To  learn  what  could  be  done  I  made 
the  acquaintance  of  brethren  everywhere.  The  bril- 
liant and  erratic  Dr.  Cox,  of  Missouri,  had  sent  an  ap- 
pointment to  "Old  Union,"  and  Oliver  Steele  came 
with  him.  I  attended  his  meeting,  and  Bro.  Steele, 
Cox  and  myself  accepted  the  hospitality  of  Bro. 
Humber.  Bro.  Cox,  being  now  in  the  presence  of  a 
man  reported  to  be  a  live  Abolitionist,  opened  a  dis- 
cussion on  the  question  of  slavery. 

I  had  been  brought  up  on  the  Western  Reserve, 
Ohio,  and  inherited  intense  anti-slavery  convictions. 
But  I  had  learned  from  the  writings  of  A.  Campbell 
to  judge  slave-holders  with  a  charitable  judgment. 
They  had  inherited  the  institution  of  slavery  from 
their  fathers,  and  like  the  aristocratic  institutions  of 
the  old  world,  it  had  come  down  to  them  without  any 
fault  of  their  own.  My  experiences  in  Kansas  cer- 
tainly had  not  made  me  love  slavery  any  better  ;  still, 
all  this,  how  bitter  soever  it  might  be  to  me,  had  re- 
vealed so  much  of  real  nobility  in  the  hearts  of  many 
slave-holders  that  it  had  not  impaired  my  feeling  of 
good  will  to  them.  If  I  were  to  grant  that  they  had 
been  associated  sometimes  with  men  of  desperate 
morals,  had  I  not  also  been  associated  with  Jim  Lane, 
and  had  I  not  been  compelled  to  hide  myself  behind 
the  old  maxims,  that  ' '  Politics,  like  poverty,  makes  us 
acquainted  with  strange  bedfellows?" 

And  so  I  argued  with  Bro.  Cox  the  views  I  held, 
asserting  them?  when*  for  a  wonder  to 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  195 

Bro.  Steele  and  Bro.  Humber  expressed  themselves  as 
coinciding  with  my  views  much  more  than  with  the 
views  of  Bro.  Cox,  who  held  the  ultra  Southern,  John 
C.  Calhoun  theory  of  slavery.  It  appeared  that  these 
brethren  held  that  if  Providence  has  given  to  the  Cau- 
casian descendants  of  Japheth,  a  fairer  skin,  a  higher 
style  of  intellectual  power,  and  greater  force  of  will, 
that  the  same  divine  Providence  has  given  to  the  sons 
of  Ham  a  darker  color  to  their  skin ;  but  that  all  are 
alike  the  children  of  the  love  of  one  common  Father ; 
that  Jesus  died  for  all,  and  that  he  will  not  suffer  with 
impunity  any  indignity  to  be  offered  even  to  one  of" 
the  least  of  these  his  brethren.  To  the  inquiry  why 
these  brethren  did  not  give  that  freedom  to  their  col- 
ored servants  which  they  asserted  was  their  natural 
right,  they  made  reply,  alleging  the  unfriendly  legisla- 
tion not  only  of  the  slave  States,  but  of  the  free 
States;  and  that  had  interposed  grave  difficulties  in 
the  way  of  such  a  step.  The  Big  Springs  Convention 
had  framed  the  first  Free  State  platform  for  Kansas, 
August  15,  1855,  and  this,  with  hard-hearted  inhu- 
manity, had  avowed  the  purpose  to  drive  out  of  Kan- 
sas the  free  blacks  as  well  as  the  slaves.  The  same 
principle  was  also  incorporated  in  the  Topeka  Free 
State  Constitution. 

It  will  throw  additional  light  on  this  subject  if  I 
mention  that,  in  1858,  one  year  after  this  conversation 
with  Bro.  Cox,  when  the  Free  State  men  had  obtained 
control  of  the  Territorial  Legislature,  Bro.  Humber 
went  to  Lawrence  and  laid  before  Judge  Crosier,  a 
leading  member  of  the  Legislature,  from  Leavenworth, 
the  following  proposition.  He  said:  "I  will  emanci- 
pate my  slaves,  and  will  sell  them  land.  I  want  them 


196  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

to  remain  where  I  can  look  after  their  welfare.  I  do 
not  want  them  to  be  driven  out  of  Kansas."  Judge 
Crosier,  while  greatly  sympathizing  with  Bro.  Hum- 
ber,  had  to  tell  him  the  thing  was  impossible.  It  is 
comforting  to  know  that  "The  world  do  move;"  that 
colored  people  do  freely  enjoy  in  Kansas  now  the 
rights  Bro.  Humber  in  vain  sought  of  a  Free  State 
Legislature  then  on  behalf  of  his  slaves. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

The  reader  has  already  heard  of  Big  Springs  as  a 
locality  where  Free  State  Conventions  were  wont  to  be 
held.  Lawrence  and  Topeka  were  twenty-five  miles 
apart,  and  both  were  on  the  south  bank  of  the  Kansas 
River.  Big  Springs  is  midway  between  these  towns, 
and  is  situated  on  the  high  divide,  lying  between  the 
Kansas  River  and  the  Wakarusa. 

Here,  at  Big  Springs,  were  located  four  brethren, 
L.  R.  Campbell,  C.  M.  Mock,  A.  T.  Byler  and  Jack 
Reeves.  Bro.  Campbell  was  a  Disciple  from  Indiana, 
of  much  more  than  average  attainments,  and  of  great 
force  of  character.  In  his  immediate  neighborhood, 
and  as  he  had  opportunity,  he  was  a  preacher,  and 
when  a  church  was  organized  he  naturally  became  its 
leader  and  elder.  His  early  death  seemed  the  greatest 
calamity  that  ever  befell  the  church,  though  he  raised 
a  family  of  boys  that  in  process  of  time  have  taken  his 
place,  and  make  his  loss  seem  not  irreparable. 

C.  M.  Mock  was  not  a  preacher,  yet  there  is  many 
a  preacher  that  might  well  be  proud  to  make  himself 
as  widely  and  as  favorable  known  as  "Charley  Mock," 
and  to  be  remembered  with  as  much  affection.  He  only 
remained  in  Kansas  a-  few  years,  and  then  returned  to  his 
original  home  in  Rushville,  Rush  county,  Indiana.  We 
may  truthfully  say,  ' '  What  was  our  loss  was  their  gain." 

Bro.  Byler  was  simply  a  large-hearted  and  kind- 

197 


19$  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

natured  farmer  from  Missouri,  who  was  too  full  of 
brotherly  love  to  have  anything  of  sectional  prejudice 
about  him.  George  W.  Hutchinson,  whom  we  will 
hereafter  introduce  to  our  readers,  used  to  call  him  his 
' '  Big  Boiler. "  His  death  after  a  few  years  was  sad 
and  pathetic ;  he  had  been  to  Lecompton  and  driving 
a  spirited  horse ;  the  horse  took  fright,  and  threw  him 
from  his  buggy  and  killed  him. 

Jack  Reeves  was  the  son  of  B.  F.  Reeves,  of  Flat 
Rock,  Ind. ,  so  long  the  venerated  elder  of  that  church, 
and  a  sort  of  patriarch  over  all  the  churches.  And  the 
above-named  brethren,  as  well  as  a  number  of  others, 
hearing  that  I  was  preaching  near  the  Missouri  River, 
sent  for  me  to  come  and  make  them  a  visit.  I  accord- 
ingly did  so,  and  now,  for  thirty-one  years  I  have  not 
forgotten  to  visit  them,  and  they  have  not  forgotten 
me.  From  this  time  forward  I  preached  for  them  as  I 
had  opportunity,  and  thus  began  to  make  the  acquaint- 
ance of  brethren  south  of  the  Kansas  River.  The 
church  grew  apace.  At  their  organization  they  had 
twenty-five  members.  Two  years  afterwards  they 
were  able  to  report  a  membership  of  seventy-two 
persons. 

The  year  1857  passed  rapidly  away.  My  time  was 
divided  between  working  on  my  claim  on  Stranger 
Creek,  preaching  for  the  churches  that  had  been  organ- 
ized, and  making  the  acquaintance  of  brethren  wher- 
ever I  was  able  to  find  them. 

And  now  the  year  1858  was  upon  us,  predestinated 
to  bring  with  it  consequences  far-reaching,  as  touching 
the  future  of  Kansas.  In  this  year  should  be  settled 
the  question  that  had  filled  the  Territory  with  agita- 
tion, tumult,  and  war  for  four  years  ;  and  it  was  in 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  199 

this  year  that  our  Kansas  missionary  work  was  begun, 
and  in  which  was  organized  the  first  missionary  society. 
The  time  was  the  early  spring  of  1858.  The  place  was 
"Old  Union,"  a  little,  log  school-house  situated  in  a 
ravine  opening  into  Stranger  Creek  bottoms.  The 
personnel  were,  first,  Numeris  Humber,  with  his  tender 
heart  and  quenchless  love  for  missionary  work.  Then 
there  was  his  sister  wife,  that  with  saintly  presence  and 
sacred  song  made  us  feel  that  this  was  the  very  house 
of  God  and  gate  of  heaven.  Judge  William  Young 
was  also  present,  who  had  neither  song  nor  sentimen- 
tality about  him,  but  in  his  unpoetic  way  looked  at 
everything  in  the  light  of  cold,  hard  fact.  And  yet 
Bro.  Young  is  neither  cold  nor  hard,  only  on  the 
outside.  There  also  was  Spartan  Rhea  (these  brethren 
were  all  from  Missouri),  whose  fine  sense  of  honor  and 
upright  conduct  we  have  already  had  occasion  to  com- 
mend while  acting  as  justice  of  the  peace  during  our 
former  troubles.  Joseph  Potter  was  also  there,  and 
so,  also,  was  Joseph  McBride,  a  notable  preacher  of 
Tennessee,  that  many  years  ago  was  one  of  the 
pioneers  that  planted  the  Christian  cause  in  Oregon. 
All  told,  we  had  a  crowd  large  enough  to  fill  a  little, 
log  school-house.  Brethren  Yohe  and  Marshall,  of 
Leavenworth  City,  also  gave  us  assurances  of  their 
hearty  help  and  sympathy.  This  Dr.  S.  A.  Marshall 
was  a  brother-in-law  to  Isaac  Errett,  and  always  deeply 
interested  himself  in  this  work  of  building  up  the 
churches.  The  church  at  Pardee  was  also  represented. 
And  this  constituted  the  make-up  of  our  first  mission- 
ary society.  Three  churches  represented,  and  enough 
persons  decently  to  fill  a  little  seven-by-nine  log 
school-house.  Let  us  learn  not  to  despise  the  day  of 


2OO  PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS. 

small  things.  As  for  the  amount  of  money  pledged — 
well,  it  would  not  have  frightened  even  one  of  those 
little  ones,  that  are  scared  out  of  their  wits  at  the 
thought  of  an  over-paid,  over- fed,  proud,  luxurious 
and  domineering  priesthood.  As  for  the  missionary 
chosen  to  go  on  this  forlorn  hope — to  explore  this 
Africa  of  spiritual  darkness,  it  was  Hobson's  choice ;  it 
was  this  or  none.  Except  myself,  there  was  no  man 
to  be  thought  of  that  would  or  could  go  on  this  errand, 
and  so  there  was  no  contest  over  the  choice  of  a 
missionary. 

Conspicuous  among  these  early  churches  were  the 
churches  that  were  formed  in  Doniphan  county.  This 
is  the  most  northeastern  county  in  the  State,  and  is  in 
a  great  bend  of  the  Missouri  River,  having  the  river  on 
three  sides  of  it.  It  is  a  body  of  the  best  land  in  Kan- 
sas, and  no  county  had  at  its  first  settlement  as  many 
Disciples.  Their  first  beginning  was  unfortunate.  A 
man  named  Winters,  calling  himself  a  preacher,  came 
among  them  and  made  a  great  stir.  But  he  brought 
with  him  a  woman  that  was  not  his  wife.  With  a 
character  unblemished  this  man  would  have  won  an 
honorable  fame ;  but  when  questioned  he  equivocated, 
but  was  finally  compelled  to  confess  the  shameful 
truth,  and  in  their  grief  and  shame  the  newly-organized 
church  seemed  broken  up.  Jacob  I.  Scott  was  a  man 
of  spotless  life  and  dauntless  purpose,  and  feeling  that 
it  would  be  an  unspeakable  humiliation  to  allow  every- 
thing to  go  to  wreck  because  of  the  frailty  of  one  un- 
fortunate man,  and  learning  that  I  had  taken  the  field 
in  the  counties  further  south,  he  besought  me  to  come 
over  and  help  them  In  no  counties  in  this  State  have 
there  been  more  churches  than  in  Doniphan  county, 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  '   2OI 

but  in  no  county  in  the  State  have  the  churches  been 
more  evanescent  and  unstable,  and  yet  it  is  not  be- 
cause these  brethren  have  apostatized,  but  it  is  that 
the  men  that  have  settled  in  Doniphan  county  are  men 
that  keep  on  the  borders  of  civilization,  and  the  open- 
ing of  a  great  empire  for  settlement  to  the  west  of 
them  tempted  them  to  move  onward.  Indeed,  this 
has  been  the  case  in  all  the  churches  in  Eastern  Kansas. 
Just  as  soon  as  we  would  gather  up  a  strong  church 
it  would  straightway  melt  out  of  our  hands,  and  its 
members  would  be  scattered  from  Montana  to  Florida, 
and  from  the  Missouri  River  to  Oregon. 

Some  twenty-five  miles  to  the  northwest  of  my 
place  of  residence,  in  what  is  now  Jackson  county,  on 
the  waters  of  the  Cedar  Creek,  was  a  settlement  mainly 
from  Platte  county,  Mo.  The  best  known  of  these 
was  Bro.  John  Gardiner,  whose  heart  now  for  thirty 
years  has  held  one  single  thought,  the  interest  and 
prosperity  of  the  Christian  Church.  He  has  sacrificed 
much,  has  labored  much,  and  has  done  a  great  deal  of 
preaching  without  fee  or  reward.  Bro.  J.  W.  Williams, 
from  Southeastern  Ohio,  a  man  of  saintly  character 
and  indefatigable  purpose,  was  also  of  this  settlement. 
There  also  we  organized  a  church. 

The  places  for  holding  meetings  were  of  the  most 
primitive  kind.  A  log  school-house  was  a  luxury  ;  the 
squatter  cabins  were  too  small ;  but  we  had  to  use  them 
during  the  winter.  The  groves  of  timber  along  the 
streams  were  always  waiting ;  but  we  only  could  use 
them  in  fair  and  pleasant  weather,  and  for  six  months 
in  the  year.  As  for  hearers,  we  were  never  lacking  an 
audience,  we  were  never  lacking  for  a  crowd  that  were 


202  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

ready  to  listen  with  honest  good-will  to  the  message 
which  we  brought  them. 

It  was  an  eventful  summer.  More  rain  fell  than  in 
any  season  I  have  known.  The  streams  were  always 
full,  the  bottoms  were  often  flooded,  and  crossing  was 
sometimes  dangerous  ;  but  I  had  a  good  horse  and  was 
not  afraid. 

In  religious  matters  everything  was  broken  up,  and 
men  were  drifting.  But  this  good  came  of  it,  that  they 
were  ready  to  listen  to  this  strange  and  new  thing  that 
was  brought  to  their  ears,  in  which  so  much  was  made 
of  the  Lord's  authority,  of  apostolic  teaching  and  apos- 
tolic example,  and  so  little  of  traditions,  theories,  and 
time-honored  observances,  of  which  the  Bible  knows 
nothing,  but  which  have  been  sanctified  by  universal 
acceptance. 

As  for  myself,  there  had  been  romances  enough 
about  my  life  to  make  the  people  wish  to  see  me,  and 
I  was  proud  to  know  that  the  boys  could  remember 
my  sermons  and  repeat  them.  The  men  with  whom  I 
was  immediately  associated  in  this  work,  and  who  had 
sent  me  on  this  errand,  were  of  inestimable  advantage 
to  me.  They  were  well  and  favorably  known  as  men 
of  unblemished  reputation  in  Eastern  Kansas  and 
Western  Missouri.  "Old  Duke  Young,"  as  the 
father  of  Judge  William  Young  had  been  affection- 
ately called  in  Western  Missouri,  had  been  an  emi- 
nently popular  frontier  and  pioneer  preacher,  and 
Judge  Young  had  inherited  an  honorable  distinction  as 
being  the  son  of  such  a  father ;  and  when  it  was  known 
that  I  was  acting  with  the  concurrence  and  under  the 
approval  of  such  men,  the  arrangement  was  generally 
accepted  as  satisfactory. 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  20$ 

And  now  I  had  my  heart's  best  desire.  I  was  in 
the  field  as  an  evangelist ;  the  harvest  was  abundant 
and  the  grain  was  already  ripe  and  waiting  for  the 
sickle.  But  above  all,  and  beyond  all  these,  was  peace 
in  the  land.  We  all  had  had  a  lover's  quarrel,  but  we 
had  made  it  up  and  were  the  better  friends.  Every- 
where they  had  their  joke  with  me,  as  to  my  method 
of  navigating  the  Missouri  River,  and  to  the  attire  I 
sometimes  put  on  ;  but  I  had  come  out  the  upper  dog 
in  the  fight,  and  could  afford  to  stand  their  bantering. 
There  is  a  warmth,  freshness,  and  enthusiasm  in  the 
friendships  formed  under  such  conditions  that  can  never 
be  transferred  to  associations  of  older  and  more  orderly 
communities.  As  a  result  of  this  summer's  work, 
here  were  seven  churches  full  of  zeal  and  rapidly  grow- 
ing, and  occupying  a  field  that  had  been  almost  abso- 
lutely fallow,  for  outside  of  the  towns  there  was  no 
religious  movement  except  our  own. 

But  at  one  point  we  were  put  at  a  very  great  dis- 
advantage. Older  and  better  established  denomina- 
tions were  able  to  plant  missionaries  in  such  cities  as 
Atchison,  Topeka  and  Lawrence,  while  we  were  not ; 
and  yet  in  each  of  these  cities  there  were  from  the  first 
a  small  number  of  brethren,  who  might  have  served 
as  the  nucleus  of  a  church  Speaking  in  general  terms, 
monthly  preaching  never  built  up  a  church  in  any  city, 
and  the  reader  will  see  that  in  the  very  nature  of 
things  I  could  not  set  myself  down  to  the  care  of  a 
single  congregation. 


CHAPTER   XXVIII. 

The  same  causes  that  have  made  me  a  preacher, 
have  also  made  me  an  abundant  contributor  to  our 
periodical  literature.  As  I  wish  to  present  a  living 
picture  of  these  early  days,  I  will,  from  time  to  time, 
furnish  extracts  from  the  contributions  I  have  made  to 
our  religious  journals : 

[Written  for  the  Christian  Luminary.] 

OCENA  P.  O.,  Atchison  Co.,  "l 
Kansas  Ter.,  May,  1858.    j 

Having  myself  had  a  very  full  experience  of  the  advantages  and 
disadvantages,  the  trials,  pleasures  and  perils  of  a  pioneer  life,  I  pro- 
pose to  write  a  series  of  essays  on  the  matter  of  emigrating  to  the  West. 

While  a  grave  necessity  demands  that  many  shall  emigrate  to  the 
West,  it  is  not  to  be  denied  that  it  is  an  enterprise  fraught  with  many 
dangers  to  the  moral  and  spiritual  well-being  of  the  emigrant.  We 
have  here  men  from  the  four  quarters  of  the  civilized  world,  and  have 
thus  congregated  together  all  the  vices  found  in  Europe  and  America. 
The  semi-barbarism  of  the  Irish  Catholicism  of  Tipperary  and  Clare  is 
now  fairly  inaugurated  in  Leavenworth  city.  All  the  horses  of  the 
livery  stables  are  hired  to  attend  an  Irish  funeral,  and  as  the  mourners 
take  a  "wee  bit  of  a  dhrap  "  before  starting,  they  are  lucky  if  they  get 
the  corpse  well  under  ground  without  a  fight.  By  this  time,  having  be- 
come over-joyful,  they  raise  a  shout,  and  with  a  whoop  and  hurrah  they 
start  for  home,  and  the  man  that  has  the  fastest  horse  gets  into  the  city 
first.  The  unlucky  traveler,  whose  horse  gets  mixed  up  with  theirs  in 
this  stampede,  and  who  thus  involuntarily  becomes  one  of  the  company 
at  an  Irish  wake,  has  need  to  be  a  good  rider. 

German  infidelity  has  been  nurtured  in  Germany  by  a  thousand 
years  of  priestly  domination  and  oppression,  and  is  now  translated  into 
our  Kansas  towns  by  Germans,  who  have  no  Lord's  day  in  their  week. 


PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS.  2O5 

Corresponding  with  our  Lord's  day,  they  have  a  holiday — a  day  to  hunt, 
to  fish,  to  do  up  odd  jobs,  to  congregate  together  and  listen  to  fine 
music,  dance,  sing,  'feast,  drink  lager  beer,  and  have  a  good  time  gen- 
erally. Under  the  best  regimen  it  is  hard  for  men  to  keep  their  hearts 
from  evil;  but  here,  it  is  a  fearful  thing  for  young  men,  released  from 
all  the  restraints  of  their  native  land,  to  find  the  house  of  revelry  and 
dancing  so  near  the  house  of  God,  and  the  gates  of  hell,  alluring  by  all 
the  fascinating  and  seductive  attractions  of  harmonious  sounds,  so  near 
the  gate  of  heaven. 

I  am  appalled  at  the  amount  of  drinking  and  gambling  that  has 
existed  in  Kansas,  especially  in  the  Missouri  River  towns,  for  the  last 
three,  years.  Under  the  shade  of  every  green  tree,  on  the  streets,  in 
every  shop,  store,  grocery  and  hotel,  it  has  seemed  as  if  the  chief  busi- 
ness of  the  people  was  to  gamble  and  drink. 

There  are  other  causes  full  of  evil,  and  fearfully  potent  to  work 
apostasy  and  ruin  in  the  West.  Men  come  here,  not  to  plead  the  cause 
of  a  suffering  and  dying  Saviour ;  not  to  give  to  the  people  a  more  pure 
and  self-denying  morality,  and  a  higher  civilization ;  but  to  get  rich. 
They  have  had  a  dream,  and  are  come  to  realize  that  dream.  They 
have  dreamed  of  one  thousand  acres  of  land,  bought  at  one  dollar  and 
a  quarter  per  acre,  that  by  the  magic  growth  of  some  Western  town  be- 
comes worth  fifty  thousand  dollars.  They  have  dreamed  of  money  in- 
vested in  mythical  towns,  which  towns  are  to  rival  in  their  growth  To- 
ledo, Chicago  or  St.  Louis.  The  dream  is  to  do  nothing  and  get  rich. 
Land  sharks,  speculators,  usurers  and  politicians  who  aspire  to  a  noto- 
riety they  will  never  win — a  station  they  will  never  occupy — swarm  over 
the  West  thicker  than  frogs  in  Egypt,  and  more  intrusive  than  were 
these  squatting,  crawling,  jumping  pests,  when  evoked  from  the  river's 
slime  by  the  rod  of  Moses. 

Some  men  are  too  old  when  they  come  to  the  West.  They  are  like 
a  vine  whose  tendrils  are  rudely  torn  from  a  branch  around  which  they 
have  wound  themselves,  and  are  so  hardened  by  time  that  they  can  not 
entwine  themselves  around  another  support.  Such  men  forever  worship, 
looking  to  the  East.  They  form  no  new  friendships ;  engage  in  no  new 
enterprises ;  they  care  for  nobody,  and  nobody  cares  for  them.  They 
live  and  die  alone. 

But  there  are  more  sad  and  gentle  notes  of  sorrow  that  fall  upon 
our  ears.  The  children  mourn  for  the  peach  tree  and  the  apple  tree* 
with  their  luscious  fruit.  The  mother-wife  asks  who  will  watch  the 
little  grave,  or  tend  the  rose  tree  growing  at  its  head,  or  who  will  train 
the  woodbine,  or  care  for  the  pinks  and  violets.  Then  sadly  she  sings 


206  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

of  home — "  Home,  sweet  home !  "  The  father,  too,  remembers  his 
pasture  for  his  pigs,  his  calves,  and  sheep,  and  cows.  He  remembers 
that  on  one  poor  forty  acres  of  land  he  had  a  house,  a  barn,  an  orchard, 
woodland,  maple  trees  for  making  maple  sugar,  a  meadow,  room  for 
corn,  wheat,  oats  and  potatoes,  besides  pasture  for  one  horse,  two  oxen, 
three  cows,  together  with  a  number  of  sheep  and  pigs.  Then  there 
was  the  three  months'  school  in  winter,  and  four  months  in  summer. 
There  was  the  Sunday-school  and  the  church,  where  serious  and  honest 
men  uttered  manly  and  religious  counsel  to  sincere  hearts,  which 
nurtured  good  and  holy  purposes.  All  this  he  has  bartered  away  for 
the  privilege  of  being  rich— of  having  more  land  than  he  knows  what 
to  do  with;  more  corn  than  he  can  tend,  and  pigs  till  they  are  a  pest 
to  him. 

Having  glanced  at  some  of  the  evils  attendant  on  Western  life,  I 
must  hasten  to  indicate  what  class  of  men  should  come  to  the  West. 
The  poor  of  our  cities,  whose  poverty  becomes  the  more  haggard  by  be- 
ing placed  in  immediate  proximity  to  measureless  profusion,  luxury  and 
extravagance — respectable  people,  whose  whole  life  is  a  lifelong  struggle 
to  keep  up  appearances,  and  in  whom  the  securing  of  affluence  is  like 
putting  on  a  corpse  the  frippery  and  finery  of  the  ball-  room  ;  young  men 
with  brave  hearts  and  willing  hands — these  are  the  classes  that  may 
come,  and  should  come,  to  the  West.  And  if  Adam,  realizing  that  the 
world  is  all  before  him  where  to  choose,  looks  to  the  West  to  find  his 
Eden,  I  would  respectfully  suggest  that  he  has  an  infirmity  in  his  left 
side,  and  that  his  best  security  against  the  perils  of  a  pioneer  life  is  to 
take  to  himself  the  rib  that  is  wanting. 

The  tenant,  living  on  the  farm  of  another  man,  should  come  to  the 
West.  He  can  not  plant  a  tree  and  call  it  his  own.  God  gave  the 
whole  world  to  Adam  and  his  sons,  and  the  true  dignity  of  every  son  of 
Adam  requires  that  he  should  be  able  to  stand  in  the  midst  of  his  own 
Eden  and  say :  "  This,  under  God,  is  mine." 

There  is  yet  another  class  of  men  that  may  always  go  to  the  West, 
or  to  any  other  place.  Whether  young,  or  old,  or  middle-aged — 
whether  rich  or  poor — they  may  go,  and  the  blessings  of  God  go  with 
them.  These  are  the  men  whose  hearts  are  full  of  faith,  and  hope,  and 
love — who  sympathize  with  all,  and  who,  consequently,  will  find  friends 
among  all — who  are  willing  to  be  missionaries  of  the  cross,  and  to  be 
pillars  in  the  churches  they  have  helped  to  nurture  into  life. 

Kansas  is  full  of  men  who  were  once  members  of  our  churches, 
but  who  are  stranded  on  the  rocks  of  apostasy,  on  whom  the  storms  of 
life  will  beat  yet  a  little  while,  and  then  they  will  sink  down  into  ever* 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  2O? 

lasting  ruin.  Strong  drink,  the  love  of  money,  or,  perhaps,  the  in- 
adequacy of  their  former  teaching,  is  the  occasion  of  their  fall.  Others, 
scattered  over  this  great  wilderness  of  sin,  remain  faithful  amidst 
abounding  wickedness,  and  stretch  out  their  hands  and  utter  the  Mace- 
donian cry,  "  Come  over  and  help  us." 

The  apostolic  age  was  pre-eminently  an  age  of  missionary  effort. 
What  will  the  world  say  of  us,  and  of  our  confident,  and,  as  some 
would  say,  arrogant,  pretense  to  have  restored  primitive  and  apostolic 
Christianity,  when  our  Israel  in  so  large  a  part  of  the  great  West  is  such 
a  moral  wreck — such  a  spectacle  of  scattered,  abandoned,  and,  too 
often,  ruined  church  members,  unknown,  untaught  and  uncared  for. 

The  peerless  glory  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ — his  measureless, 
boundless  and  quenchless  love— this  is  the  great  center  of  attraction 
around  which  the  affections  of  the  Christian  do  continually  gather. 
The  Lord  is  the  center  of  the  moral  universe,  and  all  its  light  is  but  the 
emanation  of  his  glory.  He  dwells  in  the  human  heart,  and  fills  it 
with  his  love ;  he  dwells  in  the  family,  and  becomes  its  ornament  as 
when  he  dwelt  in  the  house  of  Lazarus  ;  he  dwells  in  the  church,  and 
makes  it  a  fold  in  which  he  nurtures  his  lambs. 

Chistians  wandering  over  the  earth  like  sheep  having  no  shepherd, 
isolated  from  their  brethren,  dwelling  alone — however  frequent  this 
spectacle  now — is  not  often  witnessed  in  the  New  Testament.  There 
they  congregated  in  churches.  But  this  experiment  of  isolation  is  most 
perilous  to  the  individual,  and  a  prodigal  expenditure  of  the  wealth  of 
the  church,  which  has  bouls  for  her  hire.  It  is  true  that  a  few  persons 
become  centers  of  attraction  to  new  churches  that  grow  up  around 
them ;  but  very  many  are  lost  in  the  great  whirlpool  of  this  world's 
strife. 

What,  then,  is  the  remedy ?  Evidently  this:  Jesus  accepts  no  di- 
vided empire  in  the  human  heart.  He  will  have  all  or  nothing.  The 
Church  of  Christ,  the  cause  of  Christ,  the  people  of  Christ--these  must 
be  the  centers  of  attraction  to  which  the  heart  of  the  Christian  turns 
with  all  the  enthusiasm  with  which  an  Eastern  idolater  bows  before  the 
shrine  of  his  idol.  In  return  for  such  devotion  Jesus  gives  to  his  peo- 
ple every  imaginable  blessing.  Wealth,  power,  dominion,  science,  civil- 
ization, genius,  learning,  power  over  the  elements  of  nature,  and  insight 
into  its  magnitude,  do  now  belong  to  the  Lord's  people  in  Europe  and 
America  as  they  never  belonged  to  any  people  before.  Yet  all  these 
must  be  laid  at  Jesus'  feet  before  he  will  make  the  returning  prodigal 
the  recipient  of  his  love.  Everything  must  be  subordinated  to  our  r£« 
ligion, 


2O8  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

Since  the  almighty  dollar  has  become  the  touch-stone  by  which 
everything  is  to  be  decided,  I  assert  that  this  is  a  good  speculation :  se- 
cure a  neighborhood  homogeneous  and  not  heterogeneous.  Let  its  ten- 
dencies be  favorable  to  temperance,  education  and  religion,  and  in  do- 
ing so  a  man  will  have  added  fifty  per  cent,  to  the  selling  value  of  his 
property.  The  present  thrift,  wealth,  genius,  enterprise  and  intelli- 
gence of  the  people  of  the  New  England  States  is  the  legitimate  out- 
working of  the  training  bestowed  on  their  sons  by  the  stern,  old  Puri- 
tans that  first  peopled  these  inhospitable  shores. 

But  all  temporal  and  earthly  considerations  disappear,  as  fade  the 
stars  at  the  approach  of  day,  when  we  consider  that  measureless  ruin, 
that  gulf  of  everlasting  despair,  that  voiceless  woe,  into  which  the  emi- 
grant may  sink  himself  and  family  by  locating  in  a  profligate,  dissipated 
or  irreligious  neighborhood,  or  in  a  community  wholly  swallowed  up  in 
the  love  of  money,  or  absorbed  in  the  questions,  What  shall  we  eat,  or 
what  shall  we  drink,  or  wherewithal  shall  we  be  clothed  ?  What  home 
on  the  beautiful  prairies,  what  treasures  of  fine  water  and  good  timber, 
what  corner  lots,  what  property  in  town  or  country,  can  equal  in  value 
the  guardianship  of  our  Lord,  the  indwelling  of  God's  good  Spirit, 
the  approval  of  a  good  conscience,  the  smiles  of  angels  and  the  inheri- 
tance of  a  home  in  heaven  ?  Let  no  man,  therefore,  fall  into  the  folly — 
the  unspeakable  folly — of  subordinating  his  spiritual  and  eternal  inter- 
ests to  his  temporal  welfare.  "Seek  ye  God  and  his  righteousness,  and 
all  these  things  shall  be  added." 

To  teach,  to  discipline  and  perfect  the  churches  we  have  already 
organized ;  to  gather  into  churches  the  lost  sheep  of  the  house  of  our 
Israel,  scattered  over  this  great  wilderness  of  sin ;  to  try  and  help  those 
who  are  still  purposing  to  tempt  its  dangers  ;  and  to  lay  broad  and  deep 
the  foundations  of  a  future  operation  and  co-operation  that  shall  ulti- 
mate in  spreading  the  gospel  from  pole  to  pole,  and  across  the  great  sea 
to  the  farthest  domicile  of  man — this  is  the  purpose  which  we  set  before 
us,  and  which  should  be  pursued  with  the  zeal  and  enthusiasm  displayed 
by  the  followers  of  the  false  prophet  of  Mecca ;  and  with  the  patience 
of  the  coral  workers,  who  build  for  ages  and  cycles  of  ages  their  marble 
battlements  in  the  waters  of  the  Pacific  Ocean. 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

In  1859  I  only  spent  part  of  the  year  preaching  in 
Kansas.  At  the  earnest  solicitation  of  Ovid  Butler, 
the  founder  and  munificent  patron  of  Butler  University, 
I  spent  six  months  preaching  in  the  State  of  Indiana. 
A  missionary  society  had  been  organized  in  Indian- 
apolis, in  which  Ovid  Butler  was  the  leading  spirit, 
and  such  men  as  Joseph  Bryant,  and  Matthew 
McKeever,  brothers-in-law  to  Alexander  Campbell, 
together  with  Jonas  Hartzell,  Cyrus  McNeely,  of 
Hopedale,  Ohio,  and  Eld.  John  Boggs,  of  Cincinnati, 
and  many  others,  were  associated  with  him  in  the 
movement.  By  these  brethren  I  was  for  some  time 
partially  sustained  as  a  missionary  in  Kansas.  The 
formation  of  this  society  had  grown  out  of  a  difference 
existing  between  these  brethren  and  the  General  Mis- 
sonary  Society,  touching  what  had  become  the  over- 
topping and  absorbing  question,  both  to  the  churches 
and  the  people  of  the  United  States.  As  this  question 
has  ceased  to  be  of  any  practical  interest  to  the  Amer- 
ican people,  I  shall  spend  no  time  in  its  discussion, 
only  to  narrate,  briefly,  what  happened  to  us  in  Kansas 
growing  out  of  the  existence  of  these  two  societies. 

Ovid  Butler  had  set  his  heart  on  this,  that  the  brethren 
in  Indiana  should  have  personal  knowledge  of  the  man 
that  himself  and  others  were  sustaining  in  Kansas.  I 
found  myself  greatly  misunderstood,  and  was  often 


309 


2IO  PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS. 

hurt  at  the  slights  that  grew  out  of  these  misunder- 
standings ;  and  I  tried  hard  to  make  these  brethren 
know  just  what  was  in  my  heart,  and  what  were  the 
objects  I  was  seeking  to  accomplish. 

In  the  early  spring  of  1860  I  returned  to  Kansas 
and  resumed  my  work.  Geo.  W.  Hutchinson  had 
been  a  preacher  in  what  was  known  as  the  ' '  Christian 
Connection  "  in  the  New  England  States,  and  had  been 
eminently  successful  in  winning  converts.  But  these 
churches  were  poor,  and  he  having  married  a  wife,  his 
compensation  did  not  meet  his  necessities,  and  like 
many  others  he  went  to  California  with  a  hope  of  bet- 
tering his  fortunes.  Afterwards  he  came  to  Lawrence, 
in  Kansas,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Emigrant  NAid 
Society.  But  his  freighting  teams  having  been 
plundered  of  a  stock  of  goods,  which  they  were  bring- 
ing for  him  from  Leavenworth  to  Lawrence,  he  was 
left  to  fight  his  battle  as  best  he  might.  It  was  at  this 
conjuncture  that  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  the 
brethren  at  Big  Springs,  and  became  impressed  with 
the  simplicity  and  scriptural  authority  of  our  plea.  It 
is  well  known  that  there  never  was  more  than  a  paper 
wall  between  ourselves  and  ' '  The  Old  Christian 
Order,"  and  there  seemed  nothing  in  the  way  of  Bro. 
Hutchison.  He  had  in  his  heart  no  theory  of  a  regen- 
eration wrought  by  a  miracle,  and  which  gives  to  a 
convert  a  supernatural  evidence  of  pardon  before  bap- 
tism, and  that  should,  therefore,  compel  him  to  reject 
the  words  of  Jesus :  ' '  He  that  believeth  and  is  baptized 
shall  be  saved." 

The  Christian  Brethren  have  been  supposed  to  have 
some  leaning  to  Unitarianism,  but  he  betrayed  no 
such  leaning.  But  while  he  had  no  love  for  the  bar- 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  211 

barous  language  in  which  Trinitarians  have  sometimes 
spoken  of  the  divine  relation  subsisting  between  the 
Father,  Son  and  Holy  Spirit,  yet  he  was  willing  to 
ascribe  to  our  Lord  all  that  is  ascribed  to  him  in  the 
Holy  Scriptures.  Thus  joyfully  he  accepted  this  new 
brotherhood  he  had  found  in  Kansas,  and  our  churches 
just  as  joyfully  set  him  to  preaching.  We  needed 
preachers,  and  here  was  one  already  made  to  our  hand. 

Early  in  the  spring  of  1860  the  weather  came  off 
exquisitely  fine.  It  was  like  a  hectic  flush — the  decep- 
tive seeming  of  health  on  the  cheek  of  the  consump- 
tive. It  was  a  spring  without  rain,  in  which  the  sun 
was  shining  beautiful  and  bright,  in  which  the  evenings 
were  balmy  and  pleasant,  and  the  road  good ;  but  to 
be  followed  by  a  summer  of  scorching  heat,  of  hot 
winds  that  burned  the  vegetation  like  the  breath  of  a 
furnace,  leaving  the  people  to  starve.  The  inhabitants 
of  Kansas  will  never  forget  the  year  1860,  the  drought 
and  the  famine. 

It  was  in  the  springtime,  in  the  midst  of  this  beau- 
tiful weather,  we  called  Bro.  Hutchinson  to  come  to 
Pardee  and  help  us.  This  protracted  meeting  resulted 
in  a  great  ingathering.  It  was  largely  made  up  of  young 
men,  who,  for  the  time  being,  were  located  on  the 
eastern  border  of  Kansas,  but  that  in  the  stirring  and 
stormy  times  that  were  to  follow  were  to  be  scattered 
over  every  part  of  the  Great  West.  And  now  Bro. 
Hutchinson's  fame  as  a  revivalist  began  to  spread 
abroad,  and  many  neighborhoods  where  there  were  a 
few  Disciples,  and  who  were  anxious  to  build  them- 
selves into  a  congregation,  sent  for  him  to  come  and 
help  them  ;  and  thus  our  churches  rapidly  grew  in 
number,  and  our  acquaintance  with  the  brethren  was 


212  PERSONAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

greatly  extended.  As  a  result,  there  came  to  be  a 
common  feeling  among  them  that  we  ought  to  come 
together  in  a  State,  or  rather  a  Territorial,  meeting. 
Pursuant  to  such  a  purpose,  a  general  meeting  was 
called  at  Big  Springs,  Aug.  9,  1860,  C.  M.  Mock  hav- 
ing been  called  to  the  chair,  and  W.  O.  Ferguson,  of 
Emporia,  having  been  made  secretary. 

The  following  churches  reported  themselves  as  hav- 
ing been  organized  in  the  Territory : 

No.  of  Members. 

Pardee,  Atcliison  Co 92 

Union  Church,  Atchison  Co  . . . , 60 

Leavenworth  City , 70 

Big  Springs,  Douglas  Co 72 

Prairie  City,  Douglas  Co 44 

Peoria  City,  Lykins  Co 23 

Leroy,  Coffey  Co 108 

Emporia 80 

Stanton,  Lykins  Co 91 

lola,  Allen  Co 21 

Humbolt,  Allen  Co  . . 12 

Burlington,  Coffey  Co 9 

Wolf  Creek,  Doniphan  Co 70 

Rock  Creek,  Doniphan  Co 30 

Independence  Creek,  Doniphan  Co 12 

Cedar  Creek,  Doniphan  Co 16 

Olathe,  Johnson  Co 10 

McCarnish,  Johnson  Co 40 

Oskaloosa,  Jefferson  Co 10 

Cedar  Creek,  Jackson  Co 30 

Thus  of  organized  churches  there  were  reported 
900  members,  and  of  unorganized  members  it  was  ascer- 
tained there  were  enough  to  make  the  number  more 
than  one  thousand. 

We  find  on  record,  as  having  been  adopted  at  this 
meeting,  the  following  resolutions  : 


PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS.  213 

Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  this  Convention  be  tendered  to  the 
Christian  Missionary  Society,  at  Indianapolis,  for  the  service  of  Bro. 
Butler  as  a  missionary  in  Kansas,  and  that  the  Society  be  requested  to 
sustain  him  until  the  churches  in  Kansas  shall  be  able  to  sustain  their 
preachers. 

Resolved,  That  Brethren  G.  W.  Hutchinson,  Pardee  Butler,  Ephraim 
Philips,  S.  G.  Brown,  W.  E.  Evans,  and  N.  Dunshee  be  recommended 
to  the  confidence  and  support  of  the  brethren  as  able  and  faithful 
preachers  of  the  gospel. 

WHEREAS,  The  brethren  of  Southern  Kansas  are  in  destitute  circum- 
stances; and 

WHEREAS,  Bro.  E.  Philips,  having  spent  much  of  his  time  preach- 
ing, without  fee,  or  reward,  needs  pecuniary  support ;  and 

WHEREAS,  Bro.  Crocker  is  about  to  visit  the  East ;  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  we  commend  Bro.  Crocker  as  worthy  to  receive  con- 
tributions made  on  behalf  of  Bro.  Philips. 

Resolved,  That  we  will  encourage  and,  so  far  as  we  have  ability, 
sustain  by  our  prayers  and  means  those  who  labor  for  us  in  word  and 
doctrine. 

Resolved,  That  we  are  in  favor  of  Sunday-schools  and  Bible  classes, 
and  that  we  will  use  our  influence  to  sustain  social  meetings  in  all  our 
churches. 

Resolved,  That  when  we  adjourn,  we  adjourn  to  meet  at  Prairie  City, 
on  Wednesday  before  the  second  Lord's  day  in  September,  1861. 

Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  this  Convention  be  tendered  to  the 
brethren  of  Big  Springs  for  their  kindness  and  liberality  during  the  ses- 
sions of  this  Convention. 

On  motion,  the  Convention  adjourned  to  the  time  and  place  ap- 
pointed. C.  W.  MOCK,  Chairman. 

W.  O.  FERGUSON,  Secretary. 

The  convention  in  its  results  was  full  of  encourage- 
ment and  joy.  Insignificant  as  had  been  our  begin- 
ning two  years  before,  here  were  twenty  churches  and 
more  than  one  thousand  members  ready  to  cooperate 
together  and  plant  the  cause  in  this  infant  Territory. 
This'meeting  also  introduced  us  to  many  new  acquaint- 
ances. Eld.  S.  G.  Brown,  of  Emporia,  had  been  dil- 
igently employed  planting  churches  along  the  Neosho 


214  PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS. 

River  from  Emporia  to  Leroy.  Bro.  Ephraim  Philips, 
at  Leroy,  also  at  that  time  became  known  to  us.  Bro. 
Philips,  after  some  years,  returned  to  Pennsylvania, 
and  there  went  into  the  oil  business  with  his  brother ; 
the  brothers  were  successful,  and  afterwards  distin- 
guished themselves  by  a  generous  and  Christian  liber- 
ality. Bro.  Crocker  also,  before  his  death,  had  won  a 
large  place  in  the  hearts  of  his  brethren.  Elder  Wm. 
Gans,  at  that  time  of  Lanesfield,  but  afterwards  of 
Olathe,  will  long  be  remembered  with  earnest  affection  ; 
and  it  was  at  this  time  that  he  became  known  to  us. 

For  reasons  that  we  have  already  mentioned,  the 
General  Missionary  Society  had  done  nothing  for  us, 
but  seeing  that  we  were  fighting  a  brave  battle,  and 
that  we  were  keeping  the  peace  with  each  other,  they 
felt  themselves  moved  to  help  us.  Eld.  D.  S.  Burnett 
was  at  this  time  employed  preaching  in  Western  Mis- 
souri, and  was  deputed  by  the  Missionary  Board  to  visit 
G.  W.  Hutchinson  at  Lawrence,  who  was  winning  golden 
opinions  as  an  eminently  successful  evangelist.  Bro. 
H.  was  not  at  home,  but  was  away  holding  a  protracted 
meeting,  and  Bro.  Burnett  therefore  called  on  his  wife. 
Mrs.  Hutchinson  was  a  pious,  refined,  and  educated  New 
England  woman,  who  had  married  her  husband  after 
he  had  become  known  as  the  most  successful  evange- 
list in  the  "  Old  Christian  Order  "  in  the  New  England 
States.  She  had  with  pain  seen  him  turned  aside  from 
his  chosen  work  by  hard  necessities,  and  was  now 
greatly  rejoiced  to  see  him  once  more  a  preacher. 
Bro.  B.  was  an  accomplished  gentleman,  whose  polished 
and  cultivated  manners  sometimes  laid  him  open  to  the 
charge  of  a  proud  and  aristocratic  exclusiveness ;  but 
this  Yankee  lady  herself  knew  how  to  queen  it,  and 


PERSONAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

stood  before  him  with  no  sense  of  inferiority.  She 
frankly  said  to  him  that  herself  and  husband  were 
abolitionists,  but  that  they  knew  the  value  of  peace, 
and  would  do  what  could  be  done,  in  good  conscience, 
to  make  peace  and  keep  it.  Bro.  Burnett  evidently 
went  away  from  Lawrence  with  a  good  opinion  of  this 
family  of  Yankee  abolitionists,  and  Bro.  H.  was  im- 
mediately accepted  as  a  missonary  of  the  General  Mis- 
sionary Society.  He  used  quietly  to  indicate  to  me 
that,  as  touching  this  interview,  his  wife  was  a  better 
general  than  himself,  and  that  it  was  lucky  for  him 
that  he  was  not  at  home. 

And  so  we  two  became  missionaries,  sustained  by 
two  different,  and,  in  one  particular,  antagonistic  mis- 
sionary societies.  Of  course  we  did  not  quarrel ;  why 
should  we?  If  I  was  sometimes  charged  with  aboli- 
tionism, was  not  this  man  blacker  than  myself?  We 
often  traveled  together,  and  held  protracted  meetings 
under  the  same  tent.  I  had  for  a  lifetime  studied  this 
plea  which  we  make  for  a  return  to  primitive  and 
apostolic  Christianity,  and  it  was,  therefore,  my  busi- 
ness to  press  upon  the  people  the  duty  to  yield  a  loyal 
obedience  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  as  our  only  Law- 
giver and  King,  and  thus  to  renounce  all  human  leader- 
ship and  the  authority  of  all  human  opinions ;  and  it 
became  the  business  of  Bro.  Hutchinson  to  win  the 
people  by  his  magnetic  power,  and  fill  them  with  his 
own  enthusiasm,  and  thus  induce  them  to  act  on  the 
convictions  that  had  been  already  formed  in  their 
hearts. 

I  take  on  myself  to  say  there  never  have  been  two 
more  diligent  evangelists  than  were  Bro.  Hutchinson 
and  myself  in  the  year  that  followed  the  Big  Springs 


2l6  PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS. 

Convention.  Looking  over  the  whole  ground,  I  am 
able  to  see  that  in  that  year  was  laid  the  foundation 
for  that  abiding  prosperity  that  has  distinguished  our 
effort  down  to  the  present  time. 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

There  had  come  to  the  Big  Springs  Convention 
two  brethren — Father  Gillespie  and  his  son,  William 
Gillespie,  living  at  St.  George,  on  the  Kansas  River, 
fifty  miles  above  Topeka  and  about  eight  miles  below 
Manhattan.  These  brethren  came  to  tell  us  that  here 
were  two  settlements  of  brethren  waiting  to  be  organ- 
ized into  churches ;  and  Bro.  Hutchinson  and  myself 
both  visited  them  during  the  ensuing  autumn.  A 
military  road  ran  up  the  Kansas  River  from  Fort 
Leavenworth  to  Fort  Riley,  passing  through  the  vil- 
lage of  St.  George.  But  if  I  were  to  go  to  St.  George 
by  this  route,  I  would  lose  thirty  miles  of  travel,  and 
I  therefore  determined  to  start  directly  west  from  my 
place  of  residence.  But,  in  doing  so,  I  would  have 
to  cross  the  Pottawatomie  Indian  Reserve,  on  which 
for  forty  miles  there  was  not  the  habitation  of  a  white 
man.  Stopping  over  night  with  Bro.  J.  W.  Williams, 
on  the  eastern  border  of  the  Reserve,  I  started  be- 
times to  St.  George,  traveling  to  the  west.  But  night 
came  on,  and  I  had  not  reached  the  line  of  white 
settlements.  I  picketed  my  horse  on  the  prairie, 
made  a  pillow  of  my  saddle,  and  slept  until  morning. 
The  night  was  warm  and  pleasant,  and  I  did  not  suffer 
with  the  cold,  and  in  the  morning  I  was  ready  betimes 
to  ride  on  to  the  residence  of  Bro.  Gillespie.  He  was 

so  glad  to  see  me.      It  was  worth  a  journey  of  one 

217 


2l8  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

hundred  miles  to  get  such  a  welcome.  And  then 
there  was  Sister  Gillespie,  and  a  house  full  of  young 
Gillespies,  and  they  were  all  so  glad  to  see  me. 

"Have  you  had  your  breakfast?  " 

"No." 

"Well,  where  did  you  lodge  ?" 

This  was  a  poser.  I  attempted  to  pass  the  ques- 
tion by ;  but  nothing  would  do,  and  I  had  to  confess  I 
slept  under  the  canopy  of  heaven. 

"O,  dear!  O,  dear!"  And  had  it  come  to  this 
that  their  preacher  had  to  sleep  on  the  prairie !  This 
was  a  family  of  hospitable  Kentuckians,  who  were 
born  to  a  love  of  music,  and  the  old  gentleman  was  a 
fiddler,  and  next  to  his  Bible  he  loved  his  fiddle.  Of 
course,  we  had  a  grand,  good  time,  and  were  all  filled 
with  joy ;  and  this  was  the  beginning  of  the  churches 
on  the  upper  waters  of  the  Kansas  River.  Twelve 
miles  above  St.  George  was  Ashland,  where  we  found 
Bro.  N.  B.  White,  father  to  A.  J.  White,  who  has 
hitherto  been  pastor  of  the  church  at  Leavenworth 
City ;  but  since  has  been  acting  as  district  evangelist. 
Bro.  N.  B.  White  came  from  Carthage,  Ky.,  and  long 
remained  a  faithful  and  indefatigable  preacher.  In  my 
experience  as  an  evangelist,  I  have  known  many  men 
of  superior  Christian  excellence ;  but  never  one  man 
of  more  singleness  and  integrity  of  heart ;  never  one 
man  that  had  a  clearer  conception  of  the  ultimate  pur- 
poses and  results  of  Christianity ;  never  a  man  whose 
life  was  more  unselfish  and  self-sacrificing.  Being  of 
an  intensely  nervous  and  high-strung  organization,  and 
doing  his  work  in  a  mixed  population  that  would  have 
taxed  the  patience  of  Job  in  its  management,  it  is  no 
wonder  that  Bro.  White  was  sometimes  misunder- 


PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS.  2lp 

stood,  and,  like  all  reformers,  was  made  to  feel  that  he 
was  living  before  his  time. 

Thus  passed  in  abundant  labors  the  year  1860,  and 
the  time  drew  on  for  our  yearly  meeting,  which  had 
been  appointed  to  be  held  at  Prairie  City  in  Septem- 
ber, 1 86 1.  The  brethren  came  together  with  real  en- 
thusiasm. During  the  past  year  the  number  of  Dis- 
ciples had  been  multiplied,  and  the  cause  had  been 
greatly  strengthened.  It  had  been  a  year  of  constant 
ingathering.  New  churches  reported  themselves  at 
this  meeting,  and  brethren  whom  we  had  never  known 
before.  As  evidence  of  what  was  being  accomplished 
I  will  copy  a  note  which  I  find  appended  to  the  min- 
utes of  the  Prairie  City  meeting : 

The  following  letter  was  received  from  a  church  meeting  in  Mon- 
roe township,  Anderson  County,  said  church  being  of  the  ' '  Old  Chris- 
tian Order": 
To  the  Elders  of  the  State  Meeting  at  Prairie  City  : 

We,  the  Church  of  God  meeting  at  North  Pottawatomie,  do  recom- 
mend to  your  honorable  body,  Bro.  Samuel  Anderson,  as  our  pastor. 
We  also  represent  our  church  as  in  good  standing  and  in  full  fellowship, 
numbering  twenty-eight  members. 

Bro.  Anderson,  the  bearer  of  the  above  letter, 
came  before  the  Convention  and  said :  ' '  It  does  yet 
appear  to  me  that  a  man's  sins  are  forgiven  as  soon  as 
he  believes  ;  but  I  do  not  think  that  for  this  cause 
there  ought  to  be  a  schism  between  us.  I  am  willing 
to  unite  with  you  in  exhorting  men  to  obey  all  the 
commands  of  the  gospel,  and  in  seeking  to  unite  all 
Christians  on  the  one  foundation. 

But  there  appeared  one  cloud  in  our  horizon,  one 
cause  to  hinder  the  perfect  success  of  this,  our  second 
yearly  meeting.  The  country  was  full  of  rumors  of 


22O  PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS. 

war,  and  there  seemed  impending  a  great  national  con- 
flict. Bro.  Hutchinson  had  been  for  one  year  an  emi- 
nently successful  evangelist ;  but  now  he  went  into  the 
Union  army  as  an  army  chaplain,  and  thus  his  work 
among  us  ceased.  And  now  the  war  was  upon  us  ; 
we  were  predestined  to  see  dark  days,  and  the  hearts 
of  the  people  were  full  of  forebodings  of  evil.  Many 
of  our  young  men  went  into  the  army,  and  for  two 
years  the  produce  raised  by  the  farmers  brought 
almost  nothing,  and  many  of  our  preachers  retired 
from  their  work.  And  then  there  appeared  in  the 
land  wolves  in  sheep's  clothing — thieves  wearing  the 
disguise  of  loyalty  to  the  "old  flag,"  and  who  held 
themselves  self-elected  to  punish  ' '  rebel  sympathiz- 
ers," and  in  the  estimation  of  this  gentry  the  best  evi- 
dence that  could  be  had  that  a  man  was  a  rebel  sym- 
pathizer was,  that  he  owned  a  good  span  of  horses.  It 
is  said,  "  There  is  no  great  loss  without  some  small 
gain,"  and  these  evil  days  gave  opportunity  to  some 
of  us  who  owed  a  debt  of  gratitude  for  kindness  ren- 
dered to  us  when  we  were  in  sore  straits,  to  pay  back 
this  debt  by  demanding  justice  on  behalf  of  loyal 
citizens  of  Kansas,  whose  only  offense  was  that  they 
had  been  born  in  the  South. 

It  is  the  purpose  of  this  series  of  articles  to  tell 
how  two  peoples,  the  one  from  the  South  and  the 
other  from  the  North — the  one  the  sons  of  the  Puri- 
tans, and  the  other  the  children  of  the  younger  sons  of 
the  old  English  cavaliers — came  together  and  settled 
in  one  Territory  ;  how  they  were  divided  by  the  ques- 
tion of  American  slavery,  and  how  they  strove  in  an 
antagonism  as  fierce  as  that  which  once  subsisted  be- 
tween the  Saxon  and  Norman  in  Old  England  ;  how 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  221 

they  peacefully  settled  their  controversy,  and  in  one- 
third  of  a  century  have  grown  into  an  eminently 
peaceful,  prosperous,  enterprising  and  well-ordered 
commonwealth,  that  stands  conspicuous  as  an  illustra- 
tion and  proof  of  the  excellence  of  our  national  insti- 
tutions. We  are  also  to  tell  how  that,  out  of  the 
furnace  fires  of  such  a  strife,  a  community  of  churches 
grew  up  that  have  for  their  purpose  a  restoration  of 
primitive  and  apostolic  Christianity,  and  the  unity  of 
all  Christians  under  a  supreme  loyalty  to  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  as  our  only  Leader  and  Lawgiver,  and  as 
the  great  Author  of  our  American  civilization.  We 
are  also  to  tell  how  the  discipline  of  such  a  strife  has 
created  a  people  of  such  heroic  temper,  that  this  has 
been  the  first  government  among  the  nations  to 
grapple  with  the  saloon  power  in  a  final  and  decisive 
battle,  which  has  banished  it  beyond  the  boundaries 
of  the  State,  and  has  branded  it  as  an  enemy  to  Chris- 
tian homes,  an  enemy  to  our  Christian  civilization,  and 
an  enemy  to  the  welfare  of  the  whole  human  race. 
Other  States  have  paltered  with  the  evil  by  means  of 
feeble  and  frivolous  legislation,  but  Kansas  has  grap- 
pled the  monster  by  the  throat  by  incorporating  Pro- 
hibition into  its  fundamental  law. 

But,  above  all,  we  are  to  press  upon  the  attention 
of  the  people  the  imminence  of  that  danger  that  is 
threatening  us,  and  that  embodies  within  itself  all  other 
perils  that  hang  over  the  nation.  We  are  threatened 
to  be  overwhelmed  by  a  foreign  and  alien  emigration 
that  brings  with  it  the  anarchy  of  atheism  and  the  un- 
American  and  the  anti-American  traditions  of  a  pagan- 
ized Christianity.  We  have  now  fifteen  millions  of 
foreign-born  citizens  and  of  their  children  of  the  first 


222  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

generation  in  the  United  States.  The  Rev.  Josiah 
Strong  estimates  that  in  twelve  years  their  number  will 
be  forty-three  millions ;  and  a  great  part  of  this  popu- 
lation is  now,  and  shall  hereafter  be,  under  the  control 
of  Jesuit  priests,  that  seek  to  maintain  in  the  hearts  of 
these  millions  loyalty  to  a  foreign  prince,  resident  in 
Rome,  as  superior  to  and  more  binding  on  their  con- 
sciences than  is  that  allegiance  which  they  owe  to  the 
United  States. 

The  city  of  New  York  has  eighty  persons  in  every 
one  hundred  of  its  population  that  are  either  foreign 
born  or  else  the  children  of  foreign  born  parents. 
Boston  has  sixty-three;  Chicago  has  eighty-seven; 
St.  Louis  has  seventy-eight ;  Cincinnati,  sixty ;  San 
Francisco,  seventy-eight,  and  Detroit  and  Milwaukee 
have  each  eighty-four  citizens  in  every  one  hundred 
of  their  population  that  are  either  foreign  born 
or  else  the  children  of  foreign  born  parents.  A  nation 
is  dominated  by  its  cities,  as  England  is  dominated  by 
London  ;  as  France  is  dominated  by  Paris,  and  Ger- 
many by  Berlin ;  and  our  great  cities  have  already 
become  foreign  cities,  controlled  by  a  foreign  vote,  and 
dominated  by  a  foreign  public  opinion.  Here  in 
Kansas,  in  cities  where  there  is  a  dominant  element  of 
foreign  born  citizens,  we  have  to  invoke  the  power  of 
the  State  to  compel  obedience  to  our  temperance  laws 
on  the  part  of  this  alien  and  un-American  population ; 
otherwise  they  overawe  the  city  government  and  rebel 
against  the  laws.  Self-evident  it  is  that  the  presence 
of  such  a  population  is  a  threat  against  our  social 
and  domestic  life,  against  our  government,  and  against 
the  Christian  religion.  But  the  presence  of  such  an 
evil  calls  for  union  among  ourselves.  Poland  was  dis- 


PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS.  223 

membered  and  ceased  to  exist  among  the  nations,  be- 
cause of  intestine  strifes  and  divisions  among  its  no- 
bility, who  were  its  governing  class ;  and  in  the  pres- 
ence of  such  a  danger  menacing  the  American  people 
it  would  be  a  madness  unspeakable  in  us  to  keep  up 
among  ourselves  either  our  religious  feuds  and  bicker- 
ings, or  the  animosities  heretofore  existing  between  the 
North  and  South. 

We  must  be  one  people,  or  this  nation  will  surely 
perish.  And  this  oneness  is  not  to  be  brought  about 
by  the  utterance  of  feeble  platitudes,  nor  by  the 
hypocritical  profession  of  a  good-will  we  do  not  feel ; 
we  must  follow  the  guidance  of  that  Book  of  all  books 
that  God  has  given  us,  by  exhibiting  that  robust  and 
manly  courage  that  looks  the  truth  and  the  whole  truth 
squarely  in  the  face.  After  making  all  necessary  dis- 
count and  rebate  because  of  faults  and  infirmities,  there 
is  enough  yet  remaining  of  solid  and  essential  excel- 
lence in  the  citizens  of  every  State  in  this  nation  that 
they  can  afford  to  have  the  honest  truth  told  about 
themselves.  Is  the  sun  less  glorious  because  there  are 
spots  on  the  sun  ?  Is  the  moon  less  beautiful  because 
the  man  in  the  moon  does  not  wear  a  handsome  face  ? 
On  the  late  Fourth  of  July  there  was  a  rallying  of 
the.  clans  of  the  veterans — the  men  in  blue  and  the 
men  in  gray — on  the  field  of  Gettysburg,  to  commem- 
orate the  battle  they  fought  twenty-five  years  before, 
and  to  do  honor  to  the  bravery  displayed  by  each  man 
in  fighting  for  what  he  honestly  thought  to  be  the 
right.  This  was  as  it  should  be.  But  there  ought  to  be 
the  celebration  of  another  battle — it  ought  to  be,  even 
though  it  may  never  occur — that  should  never  be  for- 
gotten. In  that  battle  there  was  no  dreadful  carnage 


224  PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS. 

as  on  the  battlefield  of  Gettysburg ;  there  were  no  des- 
perate charges  made  by  cavalry  and  infantry ;  there 
was  no  heroic  courage  displayed  under  the  pitiless  pelt- 
ings  of  a  deadly  hail  of  shot  and  shell ;  there  were  no 
great  generals  of  national  reputation  in  command,  but 
humble  men  unknown  to  fame,  in  the  final  result  came 
together,  and  with  honest  speech  said,  ' '  We  will  shake 
hands  and  be  friends.  We  will  let  bygones  be  by 
gones,  and  see  what  can  be  done  by  a  united  effort  to 
promote  the  welfare  of  all." 

Now  we  insist  that  Kansas  is  worthy  of  more  honor 
than  Gettysburg.  But  as  in  this  wicked  world  the 
best  men  do  not  get  the  highest  honor,  nor  the  best 
deeds  the  highest  praise,  we  will  be  content  to  bide 
our  time,  knowing  that  the  Lord  does  not  forget,  and 
that  he  will  speak  a  good  word  for  us  at  the  great  judg- 
ment day. 

Kansas  led  the  nation  in  the  abolition  of  American 
slavery  ;  Kansas  ought  a  second  time  to  lead  the  na- 
tion in  a  universal  amnesty,  so  that  there  shall  be 
nothing  to  hinder  that  we  shall  preach  the  gospel  to 
the  devotees  of  the  mother  of  Babylon,  and  to  the 
millions  of  godless,  Christless  heathen  that  are  thrown 
upon  our  hands,  thus  making  them  good  Christians 
that  they  may  be  good  American  citizens. 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

In  1862  our  yearly  meeting  was  held  at  Emporia, 
and  in  1863  at  Ottumwa.  These  meetings  were  little 
better  than  failures.  Yearly  district  meetings  were 
kept  up  in  Northeastern  Kansas,  in  which  more  vigor 
was  manifested. 

And  now  the  writer  began  to  feel  the  pressure  of 
hard  necessities.  For  five  years  I  had  kept  myself  in 
the  field  on  a  salary  utterly  inadequate  to  my  needs, 
and  had  been  gradually  running  into  debt,  and  these 
debts  had  to  be  paid.  In  anticipation  of  the  future 
wants  of  my  children,  I  had  invested,  my  available 
means  in  land  ;  but  as  this  land  was  not  improved,  it 
yielded  me  no  return.  In  the  distress  that  came  on 
the  people  in  those  days,  one  means  of  making  money 
presented  itself,  and  many  availed  themselves  of  it. 
Gold  had  been  discovered  at  Pike's  Peak,  and  thither- 
ward had  flocked  a  great  multitude  of  people.  There 
were  no  railroads,  and  all  supplies  had  to  be  carried 
across  the  plains  in  freighting  wagons.  This  business 
was  carried  on  by  the  roughest  class  of  a  rough  and 
frontier  population  ;  still,  it  was  an  honest  business, 
and  honest  men  might  lawfully  engage  in  it,  provided 
they  had  the  hardihood  to  face  the  dangers  and  ex- 
posures of  such  a  life. 

During  the  years  1862,  1863  and  1864,  I  went  into 

this  business  with  a  small  freighting  outfit.     This  cer 

225 


226  PERSONAL     RECOLLECTIONS. 

tainly  was  not  just  the  thing  for  a  preacher  to  do,  but 
necessity  knows  no  law.  In  the  spring  of  1862,  Bro. 
James  Butcher  was  going  to  Denver  with  a  freighting 
train,  and  he  with  myself  agreed  to  go  in  the  same  train 
for  mutual  convenience. 

The  President,  Abraham  Lincoln,  had  ordered  a 
draft,  and  many  young  men  in  Missouri  had  found 
themselves  in  a  sore  strait.  In  the  South  were  their 
kindred,  and  they  felt  that  they  could  not  and  would 
not  fight  against  their  own  flesh  and  blood  ;  and  to 
avoid  this  they  determined  to  flee  to  the  gold  mines  in 
the  mountains,  where  every  man  did  what  was  right  in 
his  own  eyes — and  so  they  came  to  Atchison  or  Leaven- 
worth  and  engaged  to  drive  these  freighting  teams  to 
Denver.  Many  of  them  were  sons  of  rich  fathers,  well 
educated,  and  had  never  engaged  in  manual  labor, 
much  less  in  such  menial  work  as  this,  and  when  these 
proud  and  high-spirited  fellows  felt  what  an  ignoble 
life  they  had  been  reduced  to,  the  reader  may  well  be- 
lieve they  did  not  feel  good-natured  over  it.  And  now, 
when  these  young  gentlemen  came  to  understand  that 
they  were  to  be  associated  with  a  man  that  was  re- 
ported to  be  the  representative  of  the  hated  Yankees, 
who  had  made  war  on  the  people  of  the  South,  and  set 
free  their  slaves,  they  bitterly  attacked  me  in  wordy 
warfare.  Of  course  I  defended  myself.  And  so  day 
after  day,  in  the  intervals  while  our  cattle  were  grazing, 
we  debated  every  question  relative  to  slavery  that  has 
been  debated  within  the  last  fifty  years.  Their  hearts 
were  bitter ;  they  were  passionately  excited,  and  would 
often  end  the  talk,  which  they  themselves  had  begun, 
With  noisy  profanity.  They  seemed  to  think  they  had 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

this  advantage  of  me,    that  they  could   swear   and  I 
could  not. 

We  were  now  traveling  up  the  valley  of  the  Platte 
River.  It  was  the  month  of  June.  The  weather  had 
become  rainy  and  there  were  frequent  showers.  One 
night  we  had  corralled  our  train  on  an  almost  dead  level 
bottom,  and  I  was  sure,  from  the  appearance  of  the 
heavens,  that  we  should  have  a  storm.  Bro.  Butcher 
had  been  taken  sick  and  had  returned  home,  and,  ex- 
cept myself,  there  were  none  to  think  or  care  what  was 
coming ;  and  yet  it  was  plain  to  be  seen  that  the  air 
was  thick  and  sultry,  and  the  heavens  overcast  with 
clouds,  and  that  everything  betokened  a  tempest.  Our 
canvas-covered  wagons  had  been  so  crowded  with  mer- 
chandise that  we  could  not  get  into  them,  and  we  had 
slept  on  blankets  on  the  ground  ;  but  here  on  this  dead 
level  bottom,  in  case  of  a  heavy  rain,  we  would  be 
drowned  out  by  the  flooding  of  the  ground.  I  dragged 
under  my  wagon  a  number  of  ox-yokes,  and  with  these 
and  some  strips  of  boards  I  made  a  platform,  and  on 
this  I  laid  a  narrow  pallet,  and  crept  under  the  wagon, 
where  I  would  be  sheltered  from  the  rain  by  the  wagon- 
bed  above  me.  During  the  night  there  fell  frequent 
showers,  and  the  boys  were  soon  drowned  out  from 
their  pallets  on  the  ground.  They  were  tired  and 
sleepy  ;  they  were  homesick  and  in  bad  temper  at  their 
mean  and  unaccustomed  surroundings,  and  were  in- 
clined to  hold  the  Yankees  responsible  for  it  all,  and 
they  began  to  curse  and  swear  in  rough  and  bitter 
speech.  Then  there  came  on  the  most  awful  thunder 
storm  I  ever  witnessed.  Vivid  flashes  of  lightning  kept 
the  whole  heavens  illuminated  with  a  blaze  of  light, 
while  a  thousand  electric  lights  would  not  so  have 


228  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

turned  night  into  day  around  our  corral  of  train-wagons. 
Crashing  peals  of  thunder  were  in  the  air,  and  the  bolts 
seemed  to  descend  to  the  earth  around  us.  Then  there 
came  down  a  flood  of  rain  that  was  as  if  a  water  spout 
had  burst  above  our  heads.  I  looked  out  from  my 
narrow  bed,  and  could  see  the  boys  gathered  in  groups, 
standing  leaning  against  their  wagons,  soaked  to  the 
skin,  and  their  faces  white  with  ghastly  paleness ;  but 
not  a  word  was  spoken.  They  had  forgotten  to  swear. 
Then  there  was  a  lull  in  the  storm,  which  subsided  into 
a  drizzling  cold  rain,  and  I  went  to  sleep. 

When  morning  came  we  were  a  sorry  looking  lot. 
The  boys  were  soaked,  and  chilled,  and  blue,  and  dread- 
fully homesick.  Words  would  not  tell  what  these  poor 
fellows  would  have  given  if  they  could  have  been  where 
they  could  have  been  coddled  and  petted  by  their 
mothers  and  sisters.  I  saw  that  a  warm  cup  of  coffee 
and  a  substantial  breakfast  would  do  them  good,  and 
I  hastened  to  have  it  provided.  They  came  with 
alacrity  at  the  call  for  breakfast,  for  they  were  hungry. 
When  a  good  square  meal  had  somewhat  thawed  them 
out,  I  said,  "Boys,  what  made  you  quit  swearing  last 
night  ?  "  The  one  who  was  usually  their  spokesman, 
and  who  knew  how  to  be  a  gentleman  if  he  had  a  mind 
to  be,  said  reverently,  "We  were  afraid."  From  this 
time  forward  our  debates  over  slavery  and  the  South- 
ern Confederacy  were  at  an  end,  or  if  we  had  them  it 
was  in  a  friendly  way.  Given  a  fair  chance,  these  boys 
were  not  so  bad  as  they  seemed. 

In  the  summer  of  1864  we  had  reached  the  "  Cut- 
off," and  were  within  eighty  miles  of  Denver.  It  was 
late  on  Saturday  afternoon  when  we  got  to  the  Bijou 
Ranch.  We  were  tired  and  our  teams  were  tired,  and 


PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS.  229 

we  debated  for  some  time  whether  we  should  drive  ten 
miles  further,  where  we  would  find  better  feed  for  our 
oxen.  We  did  so,  though  it  took  us  till  midnight ; 
and  there  we  rested  on  Sunday.  This  was  providen- 
tial; for  it  was  on  this  Sunday  that  the  Cheyenne  In- 
dians made  their  memorable  raid  and  plundered  the 
trains,  burned  the  ranches  and  stole  the  horses  for 
three  hundred  miles  along  the  Platte  River.  They 
attacked  the  Bijou  Station  that  we  had  left  on  Satur- 
day, but  they  did  not  venture  any  nearer  Denver; 
consequently  we  were  safe.  On  our  return  we  saw 
how  the  people  had  been  murdered,  the  trains  plun- 
dered and  the  ranches  burned  along  our  route  ;  and  it 
presented  a  terrible  spectacle.  A  man  named  Butler 
was  killed  and  scalped  on  the  Little  Blue  River,  and 
the  people  in  Kansas  got  the  word  that  it  was  myself. 
Immediately  on  my  return  home  I  rode  up  to  the 
church  at  Wolf  Creek,  in  Doniphan  county,  where  we 
had  a  district  meeting  appointed.  It  was  to  them  as 
if  I  had  come  from  the  dead.  I  went  home  for  dinner 
with  my  old  friend,  Bro.  John  Beeler.  I  noticed  his 
little  boy  peering  attentively  at  me ;  he  climbed  upon 
a  bedstead  close  behind  me,  then,  jumping  down,  he 
ran  to  his  mother  and,  pulling  Sister  Beeler  by  the 
apron,  said,  "Ma!  Ma!  The  Indians  did  scalp  Bro. 
Butler ;  I  can  see  it  on  the  top  of  his  head."  The 
reader  must  know  that,  like  * '  Old  Uncle  Ned,"  I  have 
no  hair  on  the  top  of  my  head. 

But,  in  spite  of  disasters  and  hardships,  and  dark 
and  stormy  days,  our  churches  continued  to  grow  and 
prosper,  and  we  kept  up  a  vigorous  and  aggressive 
church  organization.  On  Sept.  27,  1864,  the  churches 
of  the  State  came  together  at  their  fifth  annual  State 


236  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

meeting  at  Tecumseh,  Shawnee  county.  Here  the 
brethren  organized  a  missionary  society,  fashioned  after 
the  plan  of  our  General  Missionary  Society,  and  in 
which  life  directorships,  life  memberships  and  annual 
memberships  were  obtained  by  the  payment  of  a  sum 
of  money. 

The  writer  of  these  Recollections  will  explain  that 
the  formation  of  this  Society  was  not  his  work.  He 
doubted  whether  the  brethren  were  prepared  for  it. 
Nevertheless,  he  was  willing  to  be  governed  by  the 
majority.  By  resolution  of  the  State  meeting,  the 
writer  was  requested  to  prepare  for  publication  with 
the  minutes  of  the  meeting  an  address,  of  which  the 
following  is  a  copy  : 

ADDRESS  TO  THE  CHRISTIAN   BRETHREN    OF    THE    STATE  OF    KANSAS. 

Beloved  Brethren:  We  present  to  you  in  these  pages  the  details  of 
the  organization  of  the  Christian  Missionary  Society  of  the  State  of  Kan- 
sas. We  hope  for  your  approval  and  ask  for  your  contributions. 

The  warrior  may  fight  for  his  country  on  the  battle  field  ;  the  states- 
man may  seek  to  develop  its  resources  and  improve  its  laws ;  the  hus- 
bandman may  make  its  fields  heavy  with  their  weight  of  golden  grain  ; 
and  those  who  love  domestic  life  may  seek  to  create  in  that  place  they 
call  home  a  second  paradise  ;  but  broader,  deeper,  more  comprehensive 
and  sweeter  far,  is  the  work  of  Christianity.  It  underlies  all  good,  and 
is  the  only  sure  basis  of  progress. 

For  two  thousand  years  China  and  Japan  have  been  without  the 
Bible,  and  what  they  were  then,  that  they  are  now.  For  two  thousand 
years  the  millions  of  India  have  been  left  without  God  and  without  hope 
in  the  world,  and  they  have  only  progressed  into  infinite  degradations. 
The  aboriginal  inhabitants  of  America,  left  without  the  Bible,  have  only 
gone  down  deeper  and  deeper  into  a  night  as  black  as  that  which 
brooded  over  old  chaos. 

No  Herschel  counts  the  stars,  numbers  the  planets,  measures  the 
length  of  their  years  and  computes  the  number  of  their  days,  unless  his 
observatory  is  illuminated  by  the  rays  of  the  Sun  of  Righteousness.  No 
Luther  thunders  against  priestcraft,  shakes  the  thrones  of  tyrants,  and 


PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS.  231 

wakes  the  nations  to  a  new  life  and  a  new  progress,  save  that  Luther 
that  finds  a  Bible  in  his  cell.  No  Franklin  calls  down  electricity  from 
the  clouds  to  carry  messages  across  a  continent  swift  as  the  lightning 
flashes  through  the  sky,  save  that  Franklin  whose  fathers  brought  the 
Bible  with  them  from  their  native  land,  and  prized  it  more  than  all  the 
gold  of  Ophir.  No  mother  country  has  had  such  reason  to  be  proud  of 
any  colony  that  was  ever  planted  on  the  face  of  this  green  earth,  as  Great 
Britain  has  had  reason  to  be  proud  of  her  colonies  in  North  America, 
and  no  colonies  ever  so  loved  the  Bible.  Judson,  Howard,  Wilberforce, 
and  Florence  Nightingale  drew  the  inspiration  of  their  benevolence 
from  a  dying  Saviour's  cross,  and  learned  of  him  who,  "  though  he  was 
rich,  yet  for  our  sakes  become  poor,  that  we  through  his  poverty  might 
be  rich." 

Christianity,  as  it  was  given  by  Jesus  to  the  apostles,  and  by  the 
apostles  to  mankind,  was  as  perfect  as  the  God  who  gave  it.  Our  whole 
duty  then  is  this,  that  we  should  restore  primitive  and  apostolic  Christi- 
anity again  to  the  world.  Many  reformers  have  sought  to  do  this ;  but 
they  have  only  reformed  in  part.  Though  they  fled  from  Babylon  they 
stopped  short  of  Jerusalem. 

We  can  not  pause  in  this  work  which  we  have  begun.  We  can  not 
allow  ourselves  to  grow  cold  and  our  churches  to  die.  We  must  go 
forward  in  that  path  in  which  the  rays  of  our  glorious  sun — the  Sun  of 
Righteousness — grow  brighter  and  brighter  unto  the  perfect  day. 

God  does  not  make  Christians  as  he  created  Adam  out  of  the  dust  of 
the  earth.  He  works  by  means:  "How  shall  they  believe  in  him  of 
whom  they  have  not  heard  ?  "  God  works  through  the  voice  of  the 
Bible  scattered  over  the  world.  If  any  doubt  this,  let  them  reflect  that 
among  all  the  millions  of  men  that  inhabit  the  whole  earth  not  one  be- 
comes a  Christian  save  him  who  either  hears  or  reads  of  a  crucified  Saviour. 

Money  is  the  sinews  of  this  war.  True,  there  is  peril  in  money.  It 
is  not  safe  to  be  rich  ;  and  it  is  admitted  that  by  wealth  preachers  may 
be  corrupted.  But  this  is  not  the  present  danger.  The  present  peril 
is,  that  haggard  want,  stalking  in  at  the  preacher's  door,  will  paralyze 
his  tongue,  make  his  knees  feeble  and  his  hands  heavy,  and  turn  away 
his  heart  from  his  proper  work  to  the  question,  What  shall  I  eat?  and 
what  shall  I  drink  ?  and  wherewithal  shall  I  be  clothed  ?  The  preacher 
is  told  to  put  his  trust  in  the  Lord.  But  when,  after  long  waiting,  no 
ravens  come  to  feed  him,  he  sometimes  loses  his  heart,  and  says,  "  I  go 
a  fishing."  Surely  the  brethren  will  not  have  a  controversy  with  the 
Lord.  They  will  not  deny  that  he  has  appointed  that  "  they  that  preach 
the  gospel  shall  live  of  the  gospel." 


232  PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS 

It  is  by  no  weak,  sickly,  faint-hearted,  lukewarm,  languid,  and  spas- 
modic efforts  that  the  cause  is  to  be  kept  alive.  God  will  have  all  or 
nothing.  This  is  an  age  in  which,  if  never  before,  both  good  men  and 
bad  men  are  truly  in  earnest.  The  devil  is  fearfully  and  terribly  in 
earnest.  "  Therefore  rejoice  you  heavens,  and  you  that  dwell  in  them. 
Woe  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth  and  of  the  sea !  for  the  devil  is  come 
down  to  you,  having  great  wrath,  because  he  knoweth  he  hath  but  a 
short  time." 

We  must  give  till  we  feel  it.  The  widow's  mite  was  most  precious  in 
tfie  eyes  of  Jesus \  because  it  was  her  all. 

The  objects  we  aim  at  are  unquestionably  scriptural.  "  Go  disciple 
all  nations."  This  was  the  Saviour's  last  command.  To  sustain  our 
missionaries  by  the  free-will  offering  of  our  brethren — this  is  also 
scriptural. 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 

In  the  year  1865  the  State  meeting  was  held  at 
Prairie  City.  Meantime,  however,  a  vigorous  local 
district  organization  had  been  maintained  from  the  first 
in  Northeastern  Kansas.  This  year  its  annual  meeting 
was  held  at  Leavenworth  City,  continuing  from  the 
first  till  the  4th  of  June.  In  addition  to  the  ordinary 
purposes  for  which  this  meeting  was  held,  it  under- 
took to  perfect  the  Missionary  Society  that  had  been 
organized  the  preceding  year  at  Tecumseh. 

Among  all  the  conventions  held  in  Kansas,  whether 
of  State  or  District,  this  must  be  regarded  as  the  most 
notable : 

1.  It  offers  devout  thanksgiving  to  the  Lord  for  the 
return  of  peace  to  the  nation  :   "Resolved,  That  with 
hearts  full  of  gratitude  to  Almighty  God,  we  hail  the 
return  of  peace  to  our  long  distracted  country." 

2.  After  seven  years  of  labor,  beginning  in   1858, 
and  ending  in  1865,  notwithstanding  the  disorders  of 
the  period,  this  Convention  is  able  to  give  a  tabulated 
report  of  seventy-nine  churches  organized  in  the  State 
with  their  bishops,  deacons  and  evangelists,  and  hav- 
ing an  aggregate  of  3,020. 

3.  It  is  able  to  report  a  missionary  society,  that  in 
the  eight  months  intervening  between  the  Tecumseh 
State  meeting  and  the  present  Convention,  has  col- 
lected and  paid  over  to  its   four  evangelists — J.   H. 


233 


234  PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS. 

Bauserman,  Pardee  Butler,  S  G.  Brown  and  J.  J.  Trott 
— the  sum  of  $827. 

4.  The  Convention  was  able  to  adjourn,  full  of 
hope  and  enthusiasm,  and  to  promise  itself  that  it 
would  do  a  still  better  work  in  the  time  to  come. 

The  names  of  the  following  persons  appear  as  the 
accredited  messengers  of  the  churches :  Leavenworth 
— J.  C.  Stone,  G.  H.  Field,  S.  A.  Marshal,  H.  Allen, 
J.  T.  Gardiner,  Calvin  Reasoner.  Ottumwa — J.  T. 
Cox,  Wm.  Gans,  J.  Jenks,  Peter  Smith.  Tecumseh — 
J.  J.  Driver,  M.  Driver,  A.  J.  Alderman.  Americus 
— W.  C.  Butler,  S.  S.  Chapman.  Le  Roy— S.  G. 
Brown,  Allen  Crocker.  Little  Stranger — J.  H.  Baus- 
erman, S.  A.  Lacefield,  J.  Adams,  J.  P.  Bauserman. 
lola— S.  Brown.  Nine  Mile— N.  D.  Tyler,  J.  T.  Goode, 
H.  Dickson.  Garnett — J.  Ramsey,  H.  Cavender. 
Holton— E.  Cope,  J.  P.  Nichols,  T.  G.  Walters,  A.  B. 
Scholes.  Pardee— Pardee  Butler,  N.  Dunshee.  Bel- 
mont — J.  J.  Trott.  Monrovia — J.  N.  Holliday,  John 
Graves,  Caleb  May.  Mt.  Pleasant — Joseph  Potter, 
Thomas  Miller,  Joseph  McBride,  N.  Humber.  Olathe 
P.  E.  Henderson,  John  Elston,  Martin  Davenport,  Ad- 
dison  Bowen.  Lanesfield — O.  S.  Laws,  Wm.  Maxwell, 
H.  C.  Maxwell.  Prairie  City— H.  H.  Johnson.  Buck 
Creek — C.  M.  Short,  Thomas  Finch,  Martin  Stoddard. 
Grasshopper  Falls — James  Ritter,  S.  Smith.  Win- 
chester— Cyrus  Taylor,  A.  R.  Cantwell. 

But  we  wait  for  a  period  of  seventeen  years,  then 
Eld  S.  T.  Dodd,  of  Topeka,  is  appointed  by  the  Kan- 
sas Christian  Missionary  Society  to  write  a  history  of 
the  work  of  the  Christian  Church  in  Kansas,  which  he 
does  in  a  tract  of  thirty-eight  pages;  and  Bro.  D., 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  235 

writing  under  date  of  1882,  makes  the  following   sum- 
mary of  the  work  done  : 

From  1856  to  1865  anything  like  church  work  was  as  good  as 
thrown  away,  except  as  affording  temporary  privileges. 

Finally  a  time  came  when  the  clatter  of  arms  and  the  clatter  of 
raiders  were  ended ;  railroads  were  built,  and  emigration  poured  in  from 
all  States  and  nations,  among  which  were  many  Disciples  of  Christ, 
who  should  have  been  builded  into  existing  churches,  or  collected  into 
new  ones;  but  many  were  permitted  to  drift  along  in  carelessness  and 
irresponsibility  until  their  identity  as  members  has  been  lost. 

During  the  past  five  years  there  has  been  a  general  awakening 
among  our  brethren,  which  has  resulted  in  very  many  new  organizations 
and  the  possession  of  Atchison,  Topeka,  Wichita,  and  several  other 
strongholds. 

Bro.  Dodd  makes  report  of  the  following  State 
meetings  as  having  been  held  in  Kansas : 

In  1869,  Grantville;  in  1870,  Le  Roy;  in  1871,  St.  George;  in 
1872,  Emporia;  in  1873,  Topeka;  in  1874,  Olathe ;  in  1875,  Ottawa, 
in  1876,  Manhattan;  in  1877,  Emporia;  in  1878,  Gates  Center;  in 
1879,  Emporia;  in  1880,  Manhattan;  in  1881,  Salina;  in  1882,  Em- 
poria. 

To  the  above  summary  the  writer  will  add  the  fol- 
lowing list  of  the  earlier  Territorial  and  State  meet- 
ings : 

In  1860,  Big  Springs;  in  1861,  Prairie  City;  in  1862,  Emporia;  in 
1863,  Ottawa;  in  1864,  Tecumseh;  in  1865,  Prairie  City;  in  1866,  Ot- 
tawa; in  1867,  Olathe. 

To  the  above  statistics  we  will  append  the  following 
reflections  : 

i.  Among  the  preachers  that  prominently  appear 
in  the  first  seven  years  of  our  work,  there  are  none 
remaining,  save  the  writer  of  these  Recollections. 
Some  are  fallen  out  by  the  way.  Elders  S.  G.  Brown, 
Wm.  Gans,  N.  B.  White,  S.  A.  Marshal  and  Allen 


236  PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS. 

Crocker  have  died  in  the  faith  and  hope  of  the  gospel. 
The  name  of  J.  H.  Bauserman  does,  indeed,  appear, 
but  he  had  only  just  begun  his  work  ;  but  having  put 
the  armor  on,  he  has  never  laid  it  off.  The  name  of 
J.  B.  McCleery  does  not  yet  appear  on  the  minutes  of 
our  yearly  meetings,  still  he  was  already  an  evangelist. 
He  had  been  in  Ohio  the  friend  and  companion  of 
James  A.  Garfield,  and  soon  came  to  be  known  as  one 
of  the  first  pulpit  orators  of  the  State.  The  govern- 
ment, like  death,  "  loves  a  shining  mark,"  and  claimed 
Bro.  McCleery  for  its  service,  and  he  is  now  an  army 
chaplain.  The  churches  will  never  cease  to  regret  his 
choice,  and  yet  he  had  a  right  to  make  it. 

2.  The  facts  do  not  bear  out  the  remark  of  Bro.  S.  T. 
Dodd,  that  "from  1856  to  1865   anything  like  church 
work  was  as  good  as  thrown  away."     With  seventy- 
nine  churches  organized,  and  with  upwards  of  three 
thousand  church  members    in   the  State,  work  could 
scarcely  be  said  to  be  "  as  good  as  thrown  away." 

3.  Notwithstanding,   the  facts    bear   witness    that 
there  were  grave  imperfections  in  our  work.     After  a 
heroic    battle,    fought    under  insuperable    difficulties, 
and  when  there  was  every  promise  of  still  more  bril- 
liant triumphs,    the  cause  went  into  an  eclipse,    from 
which  it  emerged  only  after  many  years  of  disaster. 

From  and  after  the  year  1875,  the  churches  spread 
themselves  over  a  territory  of  two  hundred  miles  in 
width  and  four  hundred  miles  in  length,  and  a  great 
number  of  men  became  responsible  for  the  good  or  the 
evil  that  should  come  on  the  cause  of  primitive  and 
apostolic  Christianity.  It  is  probable  that  since  the 
period  of  which  we  are  speaking,  100,000  Disciples 
have  located  somewhere  in  these  Western  Territories. 


PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS. 

If  the  church  should  now  undertake  to  make  inquisi- 
tion for  these  church  members,  and  make  inquiry 
into  their  present  condition,  temporal  and  spiritual, 
the  story  of  their  wants  and  woes  would  be  full  of 
pathetic  eloquence. 

Since  the  days  of  the  apostles  an  enthusiasm  never 
has  been  known  greater  than  that  which  was  felt  by 
the  men  who,  under  God,  are  responsible  for  this 
Reformation.  In  the  beginning  of  the  present  cen- 
tury the  missionary  spirit  among  Christians  was  dead, 
and  their  zeal  was  wasted  in  disgraceful  squabbles  over 
inoperative  and  metaphysical  opinions,  or  over  modes 
of  church  government  of  which  the  Bible  knows  nothing. 

The  Protestant  sects  were  divided  into  two  hostile 
camps,  known  as  Calvinists  and  Arminians.  The  Cal- 
vinist  dogma  was  that  Jesus  died  only  for  the  elect, 
who  were  chosen  in  a  by-gone  eternity ;  that  all  men 
are  spiritually  as  dead  and  helpless  as  was  the  cold 
dead  dust  of  the  earth  out  of  which  Adam  was  cre- 
ated, but  that  God  will  quicken  into  a  new  life  dead 
sinners  who  are  of  the  elect,  and  will  give  them  evi- 
dence of  their  acceptance  by  the  joyful  emotions 
which  he  will  create  in  their  hearts.  And  so  the  su- 
preme interest  of  men  centered  in  this,  that  they  were 
to  seek  in  their  own  hearts  those  raptures  and  ecstasies 
that  were  evidence  that  they  had  experienced  this  spir- 
itual change.  The  Arminians  gloried  in  a  free  salva- 
tion. Christ  died  for  all.  But  they  demanded  identi- 
cally the  same  evidence  of  pardon  demanded  by  the 
Calvinists,  and  men  found  it  just  as  hard  to  get  this 
Arminian  evidence  of  pardon  as  to  get  the  experience 
that  assured  them  that  they  were  of  the  elect,  accord- 
ing to  the  gospel  of  Calvinism ;  and  so  it  came  to  pass 


238  PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS. 

that  this  lethargy  of  Christians  over  missionary  work, 
and  these  wranglings  over  human  opinions,  had,  be- 
fore the  Revolutionary  War,  covered  the  American 
colonies  like  a  blanket  with  the  spirit  of  infidelity. 
The  corruption  of  Christianity  by  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  issued  in  the  atheism  of  the  French  Revolu- 
tion, and  has  created  the  infidelity  of  modern  Euro- 
pean nations ;  so  like  causes  had  precipitated  a  similar 
result  in  America.  Men  were  groping  as  the  blind 
grope  in  darkness,  and  then  came,  during  the  first  half 
of  the  present  century,  the  proclamation  of  primitive 
and  apostolic  Christianity.  Alexander  Campbell,  John 
Smith,  Jacob  Creath  and  Samuel  Rogers  in  Virginia 
and  Kentucky,  and  Walter  Scott,  the  Haydens  and 
John  Henry  in  Northeastern  Ohio,  made  the  people 
understand  that  the  plan  of  salvation  is  as  simple  as 
the  primer  of  our  childhood ;  that  it  is  all  compre- 
hended in  this,  that  we  must  bow  to  the  authority  of 
Jesus,  that  we  must  believe  in  him  and  keep  his  com- 
mandments, and  that  the  whole  story  is  told  in  the 
four  gospels  and  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  with  such 
simplicity  that  he  that  runs  may  read,  that  he  that 
reads  may  understand,  and  that  he  that  understands 
may  act. 

Alexander  Campbell  has  said  that  a  persecution 
made  up  of  defamation,  proscription  and  slander  may 
be  as  hard  to  hear  as  that  which  issues  in  bonds  and 
imprisonments;  and  this  these  early  Disciples  had  to 
bear.  But  the  world  was  ripe  for  reformation,  and 
the  cause  spread  like  fire  on  the  prairies. 

Those  who  originally  planted  these  churches  in 
Kansas  were,  in  large  part,  men  and  women  who  had 
drawn  their  inspiration  directly  from  the  founders  and 


PERSONAL    RECOLLELTIONS.  239 

leaders  of  this  Reformation.  To  some  of  them  it  had 
been  given  to  sit  at  the  feet  of  Alexander  Campbell. 
Others  had  listened  to  John  Smith,  and  had  been  mag- 
netized by  the  inimitable  wit  and  wisdom  of  that  mar- 
velous man,  and  their  hearts  had  drawn  heroic  courage 
from  his  heart.  Others  still  had  been  captivated  by 
the  boyish  and  unstudied  drollery  of  Walter  Scott, 
only  to  be  swept  away  by  a  whirlwind  of  passionate 
appeal  and  terrible  invective,  or  to  be  melted  with  the 
tenderness  of  his  portrayal  of  the  love  of  Jesus.  And 
all  these  came  to  Kansas  bearing  a  great  cause  in  their 
hearts,  and  determined  to  build  up  here  such  churches 
as  they  had  left  behind  them.  But  this  was  not  all. 
Here  were  not  only  people  among  the  most  refined, 
well  informed,  and  pious  in  the  nation,  but  here  were 
those  who  had  been  born  in  a  storm  of  religious  fanati- 
cism, and  could  only  live  in  a  whirlwind  of  excite 
ment.  These  were  the  "  big-meeting "  Christians. 
There  were  also  those  whose  truthfulness  was  doubt- 
ful, whose  business  methods  were  questionable,  who 
could,  on  occasion,  indulge  in  coarse  and  vulgar  jokes 
and  smutty  jests,  and  whose  religion  scarce  kept  them 
outside  the  grog-shop.  Added  to  all  this,  there 
were  many  whose  hearts  were  yet  bleeding  with 
wounds  they  had  received  in  that  terrible  struggle 
out  of  which  the  nation  had  just  emerged.  And  now, 
afflicted  with  poverty,  drouth,  grasshoppers  and  star- 
vation, we  were  left  an  agglomeration  of  heterogene- 
ous materials,  to  fight  our  own  battle  as  best  we  might. 
We  might  hope  for  help  from  the  Lord,  but  not  from 
our  brethren  in  the  older  States.  They  were  too  busy 
debating  the  divine  plan  of  missionary  operations  to 
help  us, 


24O  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

The  reader  may  well  believe  that  the  writer  of  these 
Recollections  did  not  find  himself  carried  to  the  skies 
on  flowery  beds  of  ease  while  this  was  going  on,  nor 
did  he  find  himself  reposing  on  a  couch  soft  as  downy 
pillows. 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

Whatever  may  have  been  thought  by  a  certain  class 
of  men,  when  the  writer  began  his  work  in  Kansas,  it 
is  now  universally  admitted  among  the  Disciples  that 
temperance  work  is  legitimate  church  work — that  the 
saloon  being  an  enemy  to  our  homes  and  our  families, 
and  the  greatest  peril  that  confronts  the  church  and 
nation,  its  extinction  is  a  legitimate  object  of  Christian 
endeavor. 

There  was  a  young  evangelist  prominently  engaged 
with  us  in  our  early  work  whose  history  is  so  sad,  and 
whose  relations,  who  are  of  the  excellent  of  the  earth, 
have  already  had  their  hearts  so  wounded  because  of 
him,  that  I  have  not  been  able  to  bring  myself  to  write 
his  name.  He  was  of  Irish  descent,  and  before  he  be- 
came a  preacher,  or  even  a  disciple,  and  while  learning 
his  trade,  he  had  formed  the  drinking  habit  He  was 
not  a  young  man  of  brilliant  gifts,  but  they  were  solid. 
Moreover,  he  was  humble,  patient,  industrious  and 
persevering,  and,  having  excellent  health  and  a  good 
physical  organization,  he  gave  promise  of  enduring 
usefulness.  In  short,  he  belonged  to  that  class  of 
young  men  that,  while  the  people  do  not  spoil  them 
with  flattery,  yet  the  church  set  a  great  store  by  them. 
I  can  not  write  the  history  of  his  fall,  for  it  was  not 
made  known  even  to  his  friends  ;  only  this,  that  the  time 
came  that  he  seemed  hesitating  whether  he  should  con- 


242  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

tinue  a  preacher,  and  finally  he  wholly  abandoned  the 
ministry.  His  wife,  who  was  a  most  estimable  and 
Christian  lady,  was  paralyzed  with  grief.  At  length 
the  shameful  truth  came  out — he  was  a  drunkard !  A 
brother  undertook  to  admonish  him  of  the  awftil  fate 
that  awaited  him  in  the  future  world,  but  this  apostate 
and  disgraced  preacher  turned  fiercely  around  and  said  : 
"  Don't  talk  to  me  of  hell!  lam  in  hell  now  /" 

There  was  living  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  writer 
a  Christian  family — though  not  of  the  Disciples — who 
had  a  boy  that  they  regarded  as  of  great  promise,  and 
they  did  what  they  could  to  give  him  a  good  educa- 
tion. After  he  had  been  for  a  while  a  school  teacher, 
he  became  a  lawyer,  resident  in  Atchison,  and  finally 
became  a  politician.  He  was  talented,  social,  com- 
panionable and  ambitious,  and  soon  made  himself  a 
man  of  mark,  and  was  petted  and  courted  by  the 
people,  and  was  the  idol  of  his  father  and  mother.  All 
this  brought  him  much  into  company.  But  at  that  time 
the  brewers  and  saloonkeepers  exercised  a  despotism 
over  the  politicians  and  public  men  of  the  city  as  abso- 
lute as  is  the  despotism  of  the  Czar  over  the  Russians. 
But  there  was  this  difference :  instead  of  being  slaves 
to  a  great  monarch,  these  politicians  were  tools  and 
lick-spittles  to  a  set  of  coarse,  brutal,  low-bred  liquor 
dealers,  who  were  exceptionally  ignorant,  degraded 
and  vile.  These  wretched  and  vicious  corrupters  of 
the  public  morals  insisted  on  controlling  every  caucus, 
and  that  the  candidates,  of  whatever  party,  should  be 
men  well  pleasing  in  their  sight.  If  not,  then  the  fat 
was  in  the  fire,  and  the  candidate  was  forthwith  slaugh- 
tered. The  writer  of  these  Recollections  has  been  a 
Republican  as  long  as  there  has  been  a  Republican 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  243 

party,  and  has  probably  loved  the  party  as  well  as  it 
has  deserved.  This  party,  as  is  well  known,  has  as- 
sumed to  be  "the  party  of  moral  and  religious  ideas." 
Now  I  have  known,  in  cases  not  a  few,  men  to  be 
nominated  for  office  by  this  party — men  who  were  re. 
spectable  and  Christian  men,  and  they  have  told  me, 
and  they  have  made  the  confession  with  shame  and 
humiliation — that  the  party  managers  have  come  to 
them  and  said,  "You  are  assessed  so  much  for  cam- 
paign expenses."  The  pretext  was,  that  this  was  for 
legitimate  campaign  work ;  and  yet  they  knew  that 
the  pretext  was  a  lie,  and  that  it  was  to  constitute  a 
corruption  fund,  to  be  put  into  the  saloons.  And 
these  men  were  thus  made  candidates,  to  give  respect- 
ability to  the  saloonkeepers'  party,  and,  though  they 
did  not  go  into  the  saloons  themselves,  they  must  pay 
toll  to  the  devil  all  the  same. 

It  was  under  such  circumstances  that  this  boy,  who 
had  been  raised  in  our  neighborhood,  but  had  grown 
to  be  a  man,  and  had  entered  upon  public  life,  now 
became  a  center  of  attraction  to  the  hale-fellows-well- 
met  of  the  saloon  and  the  caucus.  The  reader  need 
not  be  told  that  this  gifted  young  lawyer  was  walking 
into  the  very  jaws  of  death.  There  v/ere  soon  alarm- 
ing rumors  that  he  was  becoming  dangerously  addicted 
to  drink,  and  his  friends  entreated  him  to  save  himself 
while  he  could,  and  he  made  promise  to  his  mother 
and  wife  to  reform.  But,  alas  !  it  was  too  late  ! 

I  was  traveling  homj  from  Topeka,  and  on  the  rail- 
road train  I  met  a  gentleman  from  Atchison — an  inti- 
mate friend  of  this  young  lawyer — and  I  was  congratu- 
lating him  on  the  reformation  of  our  mutual  friend. 
He  shook  his  head,  and  said:  "Don't  deceive  your- 


244  PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS. 

self.  He  tells  me  that  he  can  remain  sober  two  or 
three  months,  but  that  then  he  can  held  out  no  longer, 
and,  not  wishing  to  make  a  public  spectacle  of  himself, 
he  buys  a  bottle  of  liquor,  locks  himself  up  in  his  room, 
and  goes  into  a  regular  debauch.  Then,  after  three 
'or  four  days,  he  is  able  to  appear  on  the  streets  again.'* 

After  a  while  the  friends  of  this  young  man  buried 
him.  The  doctors  gave  his  sickness  a  respectable 
name,  and  reported  that  he  had  died  of  such  a  disease 
as  decent  people  may  die  of,  but  his  friends,  with 
heart-breaking  sorrow,  knew  they  were  burying  a  man 
who  had  died  of  a  drunken  debauch. 

I  have  spoken  freely  of  the  evils  wrought  by  our 
border  troubles  ;  but  now  we  had  to  realize  that,  tak- 
ing all  the  men  murdered  in  our  early  feuds,  and  com- 
paring them  with  the  men  murdered  by  strong  drink 
in  the  city  of  Atchison,  counting  man  for  man,  there 
have  been  more  men  murdered  by  strong  drink  than 
by  all  our  border  troubles.  There  have  been  more 
women  that  have  had  their  hearts  broken,  more  chil- 
dren turned  into  the  streets,  more  fortunes  squandered, 
in  the  single  city  of  Atchison  than  in  all  the  Kansas 
war.  But  there  is  another  point  of  comparison.  The 
men  who  wrestled  with  each  other  in  that  early  conflict 
verily  thought  they  were  right.  They  may  have  been 
mistaken,  but  they  thought  they  were  in  the  right; 
they  therefore  maintained  their  own  self-respect.  But 
those  who  have  died  in  this  battle  of  the  bottles  and 
the  beer  glasses  have  lost  everything — self-respect, 
reputation,  honor,  everything ;  and  they  went  to  the 
dogs  and  their  souls  went  to  perdition. 

I  have  been  a  somewhat  voluminous  writer  on 
many  subjects  now  for  forty  years,  but  all  this  would 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  245 

scarce  exceed  in  amount  what  I  have  written  in  Kansas 
newspapers,  during  a  series  of  years,  on  the  single 
subject  of  temperance.  Besides,  I  spent  much  time  in 
lecturing,  for  the  welfare  of  the  church  and  of  the  na- 
tion was  at  stake ;  and  yet,  what  was  done  by  myself 
was  only  a  drop  in  the  bucket  compared  with  what 
went  to  make  up,  year  after  year,  a  great  agitation. 
At  length  the  people  became  so  aroused  that  the  law- 
makers at  Topeka  came  to  understand  that  something 
must  be  done  in  the  way  of  temperance  legislation; 
and  they  gave  us  a  local  option  law.  But  crafty  poli- 
ticians obtained  that  cities  of  the  first  and  second  class 
should  be  exempted.  This  was  nothing  but  mockery. 
The  cities  were  the  very  places  where  the  law  was 
most  needed,  for  men  from  the  country  went  into  the 
city  and  there  they  encountered  their  old  enemy,  the 
saloon.  And  so  we  kept  up  the  agitation,  and  de- 
manded that  the  saloon  should  be  prohibited  through- 
out the  State.  At  length  the  pressure  became  so 
great  that  the  politicians  understood  a  second  time  that 
something  must  be  yielded  to  the  popular  demand,  and 
they  tried  another  dodge.  They  said :  "  We  will  give 
you  the  privilege  to  vote  an  amendment  to  the  consti- 
tution incorporating  prohibition  into  the  constitution 
of  the  State."  This  would  at  least  put  off  the  evil 
day  for  two  years,  for  it  would  take  two  years  before 
such  an  amendment  could  go  into  operation.  But 
here  again  was  seen  the  usual  treachery.  The  amend- 
ment to  be  voted  on  read  as  follows :  ' '  The  manufac- 
ture and  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors  shall  be  forever 
prohibited  in  this  State,  except  for  medical,  scientific 
and  mechanical  purposes."  This  was  a  stumbling- 
block  laid  in  the  way  of  feeble-minded  Christians,  for 


246  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

was  not  this  an  attack  on  their  Christian  liberty  to 
use  intoxicating  wine  at  the  Lord's  table,  and  would 
not  this  be  awful  ?  Moreover,  it  forbade  a  farmer  to 
manufacture  hard  cider  from  his  own  orchard,  and 
would  not  this  be  a  hard  and  tyrannical  lav/  ?  This 
was  vexatious,  for  we  were  fighting  the  saloon,  and 
were  not  seeking  to  palter  with  such  frivolous  and  inter- 
meddling legislation.  Nevertheless,  in  spite  of  these 
crafty  attempts  to  excite  popular  odium  against  the 
amendment,  it  was  adopted  by  a  majority  of  more  than 
eight  thousand,  and  it  became  the  duty  of  the  next  Legis- 
lature to  enact  a  law  enforcing  the  amendment.  Then 
some  of  us  waited  on  these  "conscript  fathers"  at 
Topeka,  and  entreated  them,  and  supplicated  them, 
and  almost  got  down  on  our  knees  to  them,  beseech- 
ing them  to  use  a  little  courage  and  common  sense. 
The  House  of  Representatives  was  largely  made  up  of 
farmers  and  men  from  the  country,  and  was  over- 
whelmingly in  favor  of  an  honest  temperance  law; 
but  the  Senate  was  largely  made  up  of  lawyers  and 
men  from  the  city,  and  was  full  of  treachery  and  open 
and  secret  enmity.  And  so  the  Senate  took  the  lead 
in  making  the  law,  and  got  up  a  bill  that  they  pur- 
posely made  as  full  of  imperfections  as  a  sieve  is  full 
of  holes,  and  sent  it  down  to  the  lower  house.  It  was 
manifestly  the  duty  of  the  House  of  Representatives 
to  amend  the  bill,  but  now  a  great  scare  was  got  up. 
The  cry  was  raised  :  ' '  There  is  treachery  !  treachery ! 
You  must  adopt  this  Senate  bill  without  amending  it, 
to  the  extent  of  changing  the  dot  of  an  i  or  the  cross- 
ing of  a  /;  for  if  it  goes  back  to  the  Senate  it  will 
certainly  be  killed."  And  yet  the  Senate  had  adopted  it 
by  an  almost  four-fifths  majority  ! 


PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS.  247 

The  fact  was,  that  these  Senators,  with  all  their 
bluster  and  bravado,  were  trembling  in  their  boots, 
and  dared  not  face  their  constituents  at  home  while 
voting  against  any  temperance  law,  however  stringent, 
and  this  gave  the  friends  of  the  law  good  warrant  to 
make  just  such  a  law  as  was  needed.  And  so  the  bill 
became  a  law ;  and  then  there  followed  such  a  farce  in 
the  courts  as  might  make  us  lose  faith  in  our  Christian 
civilization  and  in  our  civilized  jurisprudence.  And  it 
came  to  be  understood  that  a  coach-and-four  could  be 
driven  through  the  loopholes  that  had  been  left  in  the 
law,  and  saloonkeepers  began  to  remark,  '  *  Prohibition 
do  n't  prohibit."  But  from  this  evil  we  had  what  must 
be  regarded  a  providential  deliverance.  A  judge  was 
found  who  made  up  in  ,his  own  integrity  and  courage 
whatever  was  imperfect  in  the  provisions  of  the  law, 
and  his  good  example  was  followed  throughout  the  State. 

John  Martin,  a  lawyer,  resident  in  Topeka,  is  a 
solid,  sensible  and  honest  man.  His  brethren  of  the 
Democratic  persuasion  wanted  to  make  him  a  candi- 
date for  Governor,  but  because  they  would  not  insert 
in  their  platform  a  plank  affirming  that  the  law — be- 
cause it  was  the  law — ought  to  be  enforced,  he  de- 
clined to  accept  the  nomination,  and  Geo.  W.  Glick 
was  nominated  and  elected.  Then  Mr.  Glick,  to 
reciprocate  this  courtesy,  appointed  Martin  to  a 
vacant  judgeship  in  the  Topeka  judicial  district ;  and  a 
whisky  case  came  before  Judge  Martin.  The  principal 
witness  undertook  to  play  the  usual  dodge  of  perjury 
and  equivocation,  but  Judge  Martin  stopped  the  wit- 
ness and  said  :  ' '  Sir,  you  are  to  tell  whether  the  liquor 
you  bought  was  whisky." 

The  witness  again  began  to    repeat   his   story  of 


248  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

equivocation:  "Well,  I  called  for  cold  tea,  and  I  sup- 
pose I  got  what  I  called  for." 

"Stop!"  said  the  Judge  in  a  voice  of  thunder. 
"This witness  is  lying!  Sheriff,  take  the  witness  and 
lock  him  up  in  jail." 

The  Sheriff  had  got  as  far  as  the  door  when  the 
witness  called  out:  "Judge,  are  you  going  to  lock  me 
up?" 

"Yes,  and  I  will  keep  you  there  till  you  rot  unless 
you  tell  the  truth." 

"Well,  I  will  tell." 

The  witness  was  placed  again  in  the  witness  box. 
"Now,  "said  the  Judge,  "was  it  whisky  you  bought 
of  this  saloonkeeper?" 

"  Yes,  it  was  whisky" 

The  example  of  Judge  Martin  was  imitated  by  all 
the  courts,  and  incredible  sums  of  money  have  been 
collected  as  fines  from  the  saloonkeepers,  who,  with 
the  brewers,  fought  the  battle  to  the  bitter  end,  and 
appealed  their  cases  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States.  But  it  has  ended  in  their  absolute  de- 
feat, and  even  these  gentlemen  do  now  admit  that  pro- 
hibition does  prohibit — in  Kansas.  Since  that  time 
the  law  has  been  greatly  amended,  and  the  saloons 
have  been  driven  out  of  the  State. 

One  evil  yet  remains.  Just  across  the  Missouri 
River  from  Atchison  is  East  Atchison,  and  here 
whisky  and  beer  are  as  free  as  water.  Of  course,  this 
is  a  great  calamity  to  us,  but  we  wait  in  expectation 
and  hope  that  prohibition  will  yet  be  achieved  in  Mis- 
souri. 

John  A.  Brooks  lives  in  Missouri ;  we  live  in  Kan- 
sas. This  man  was  once  a  rebel ;  we  were  loyal  men. 


PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS.  249 

Yet  we  pray  the  Father  of  Mercies  to  spare  the  life  of 
this  man,  to  prosper  him  and  keep  him,  until  he  shall 
achieve  this  great  good,  not  only  to  Missouri,  but  to 
ourselves. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

This  reformation  in  the  rapidity  of  its  growth  is 
without  parallel  in  the  history  of  Protestant  parties. 
Those  acquainted  with  its  history  need  not  be  told 
that  a  large  number  of  its  members  were  at  first  drawn 
from  the  Baptists.  It  is  indeed  a  matter  of  wonder 
that  a  Presbyterian  minister,  but  a  short  time  identified 
with  the  Baptists,  should  exert  such  an  influence  over 
them  as  to  induce  a  great  multitude  of  churches  and 
church  members  to  resolve  that  when  he  was  driven 
out  of  the  Baptist  Church  they  also  would  share  his 
fortune,  and  accept  loss  of  reputation  and  exclusion 
from  their  former  brotherhood  for  the  sake  of  the 
principles  they  had  learned  from  him.  Now,  when  we 
reflect  that  this  embraced  not  only  young  men,  but  old 
men — men  already  arrived  at  that  period  of  life  at  which 
it  is  most  difficult  to  change  our  habits  of  thinking  and 
acting,  it  becomes  a  question  of  profoundest  interest ; 
were  these  men  able  to  make  a  change  so  radical  as  to 
plant  themselves  completely  on  reformation  principles, 
and  to  abandon  everything  in  their  old  Baptist  order 
incompatible  therewith  ? 

When  we  remember  that  this  movement  embraced 
gray-haired  Baptist  ministers,  who  all  their  lifetime  had 
been  accustomed  to  lead  and  not  to  follow,  we 
curiously  inquire,  Did  they  do  this,  or  did  they  locate 
themselves  on  a  sort  of  half-way  ground  which  was  a 


PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS. 

compromise   between  reformation  principles  and  old 
Baptistism  ? 

Let  us  briefly  notice  wherein  they  changed,  and 
wherein  they  did  not  change. 

1.  They  laid  aside  the  name  Baptist  and  took  the 
name  Christian. 

2.  They  built  upon  the  Bible  alone,  instead  of  the 
Philadelphia  Confession  of  Faith. 

3.  They  taught  that  the  church  began  at  Pentecost, 
rather  than  with  the  preaching  of  John  the  Baptist. 

4.  They  baptized  men    into  a  profession   of  faith 
in  the  Lord  Jesus,  that  he  is  the  Messiah,  rather  than 
into  a  Christian  experience,  made  up  of  voices  in  the 
air,   marvelous  and   strange   sights,   trances  and  rap- 
turous feelings. 

5.  They  taught  that  in  conversion  and  sanctification, 
the  Holy  Spirit  operates  through  the  truth. 

Thus  far  the  change  was  radical,  but  here  a  large 
minority  paused  and  brought  with  them  into  the 
reformation  their  old  Baptist  Church  usages.  The 
Baptists  in  the  Great  West  and  South  are  known  as 
"  Missionary  Baptists,"  and  "Old  Baptists,"  or 
"  Hardshell  Baptists."  Adoniram  Judson  and  Luther 
Rice,  who  had  been  sent  to  Burmah  by  a  Congrega- 
tional Missionary  Society,  made  known  to  the  Baptists 
that  they  themselves  had  become  Baptists,  and 
had  been  repudiated  by  their  own  society,  and  asked 
for  help.  The  Missionary  Baptists  are  by  far  the  most 
enterprising  in  all  that  pertains  to  the  spread  of 
Christianity.  They  are  the  most  numerous,  most 
wealthy,  best  educated,  and  most  liberal.  In  transla- 
ting the  Bible  into  all  languages,  in  carrying  it  into  all 
lands,  and  in  sending  the  gospel  to  all  nations,  they 


252  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

have  made  some  amends  for  that  unrelenting  bitterness 
which  they  have  shown  toward  our  brethren  from  the 
first  day  till  now.  We  shall  glance  at  what  has  hitherto 
been  their  order  by  making  certain  extracts  from  the 
Central  Baptist,  published  in  the  year  1870.  The 
reader  must  bear  in  mind  that  we  are  writing  of  those 
old  days : 

In  Arkansas  there  are  but  four  Missionary  Baptist  Churches  that 
sustain  a  regular  pastor,  or  sustain  preaching  more  than  once  a  month. 
In  North  Alabama,  two;  in  the  whole  of  Alabama,  twelve;  in  Missouri, 
twenty-seven.  Missouri  has  six  hundred  white  churches,  with  a  mem- 
bership of  fifty  thousand,  which  have  preaching  once  a  month.  Once  a 
month  preaching  by  secularized  ministry !  Is  it  any  wonder  that  the 
cause  does  not  go  forward  faster  ?  Not  more  than  two  dozen  out  of 
seven  hundred  churches  in  Missouri  have  service  every  Sunday. 

Let  us  pause  a  moment  over  this  picture  of 
Southern  and  Western  Baptist  Churches,  drawn  by 
themselves.  In  Arkansas  but  four  churches  had  at 
this  time  preaching  every  Lord's  day;  in  Alabama, 
twelve,  and  in  Missouri  twenty-four  out  of  seven  hun- 
dred !  Well  may  the  writer  ask,  "Is  it  any  wonder 
that  the  cause  does  not  go  forward  faster?  " 

But  if  this  was  the  order  of  the  Missionary  Baptists 
in  the  year  1870,  what  must  have  been  the  order  of 
the  Old  Baptists  seventy  years  before,  when  ' '  Rac- 
coon" John  Srtiith  was  groping  his  way  out  of  dark- 
ness into  the  light  of  the  gospel,  all  unconscious  of 
his  utter  blindness,  that  the  reading  of  the  Scriptures 
would  conduce,  either  directly  or  indirectly,  to  his 
regeneration  or  sanctification. 

The  people  known  as  "  Hardshell  "  Baptists  do  not 
wish  to  be  called  by  that  name.  They  wish  to  be 
known  as  Old  Baptists,  or  United  Baptists,  for  they 
allege  that  they  are  the  lineal  descendants  of  the 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  253 

United  Baptists,  and  that  the  Missionary  Baptists  have 
apostatized,  and  gone  away  after  strange  gods.  The 
Old  Baptists  had  long  been  declaiming  against  college- 
bred  preachers  and  a  hireling  ministry.  They  had 
certain  pet  theories  concerning  man's  inability  and 
God's  sovereignty  concerning  a  certain  special,  super- 
natural, immediate  and  efficacious  work  of  grace  on  the 
heart  of  the  sinners.  They  said,  ''If  God  wants  a 
missionary,  he  can  send  him,  and  maintain  him,  too. 
He  needs  no  human  help  in  the  conversion  of  sinners, 
whether  at  home  or  abroad.  We  can  find  no  Scripture  for 
Sunday-schools,  Bible  classes,  prayer-meetings,  weekly 
meetings,  hireling  preachers,  missionaries  or  missionary 
societies."  So  they  kept  to  their  monthly  meetings 
and  monthly  preaching. 

They  have  no  schools  of  learning,  few  educated 
men,  no  well-educated  men,  no  missionaries,  no  con- 
tributions for  missionary  purposes,  no  weekly  meetings, 
no  weekly  preaching,  no  weekly  breaking  of  the  loaf, 
no  Sunday-schools,  no  Bible  classes,  no  prayer-meet- 
ings. But  they  have  monthly  preaching,  by  a  man 
who  is  reputed  a  pastor  over  four  churches,  and  who, 
in  the  nature  of  things,  can  not  reside  in  three  of  the 
four  churches  over  which  he  professes  to  preside.  He 
obtains  but  meager  pecuniary  reward  for  his  preaching. 
He  therefore  provides  for  his  own  sustenance  and  that 
of  his  family  by  the  labor  of  his  own  hands.  For  this 
reason  he  must  needs  go  to  his  appointments  on  Sat- 
urday, and  return  on  Monday  morning,  and  is  therefore 
comparatively  a  stranger  to  the  greater  part  of  his  four 
several  flocks.  He  can  not  know  their  daily  life.  A 
few  preachers  among  the  old  Baptists  preeminently 
godly,  self-sacrificing,  and  devoted  to  the  Lord's 


254  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

cause,  have  left  their  families  to  suffer  poverty  and 
want,  and  have  spent  their  lives  in  looking  after  the 
stray  lambs  of  the  flock ;  but  this  is  not  the  general 
rule.  This  Baptist  bishop  has  no  authority  whatever 
in  any  matter  of  discipline,  his  function  being  that  of 
a  moderator  in  a  Saturday  'business  monthly  meeting. 
The  sitting  in  judgment  on  the  alleged  acts  of  disor- 
derly members  belongs  to  the  whole  church,  men  and 
women,  boys  and  girls. 

We  are  now  prepared  to  take  the  measure  of  the 
means  of  spiritual  culture  enjoyed  by  this  people.  It 
is  just  one  sermon  a  month  ;  or,  if  they  are  peculiarly 
favored,  it  is  three  sermons  a  month.  The  children 
are  left  at  home.  They  run  wild  like  so  many  young 
apes,  and  wander  along  the  streams  or  through  the 
forests ;  or,  if  they  are  brought  by  their  parents  to  the 
meeting,  there  is  nothing  especially  for  them. 

It  will  be  well  for  us  to  ponder  well  the  inevitable 
X  consumption  and  slow  decay  that  is  surely  wearing  out 
these  Old  Baptist  churches.  Like  the  house  of  Saul, 
they  are  growing  weaker  and  weaker.  What  a  contrast 
between  their  condition  now  and  seventy  years  ago. 
Then  the  United  Baptists  were  the  most  powerful 
religious  body  in  the  great  West.  Then  Jacob  Creath 
and  Jeremiah  Vardeman  could,  if  they  had  been  so 
disposed,  have  elected  the  Governor  of  Kentucky. 
Then  the  Baptists  were  strong  in  the  affections  of  the 
people,  and  strong  in  the  memory  of  those  men  who 
had,  through  incredible  toil,  obloquy,  poverty  and  loss 
of  goods,  planted  the  Baptist  cause  in  the  American 
wilderness.  Alexander  Campbell,  with  his  eminent 
gifts  of  eloquence  and  learning,  was  welcomed  among 
the  Baptists  almost  as  an  angel  from  heaven.  But  his 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  255 

well-meant  efforts  to  work  a  reformation  in  the  Baptist 
churches  were  despised,  and  he  was  thrust  out  as  a 
heathen  man  and  publican. 

What  treasures  untold  reside  in  the  Lord's  house, 
the  Lord's  day,  the  Lord's  book,  and  the  ordinances  of 
the  Lord  ?  It  is  the  glory  of  Christianity.  Now  let 
the  members  of  a  Christian  Church  fail  to  meet  at  the 
Lord's  house  for  Christian  worship  on  the  Lord's  day, 
and  to  what  snares  and  temptations  do  they  not  subject 
themselves  and  their  children  ?  What  temptations  to 
idleness  and  to  wasting  the  Lord's  day  in  visiting  and 
gossiping,  or  in  drowsy  lethargy  ! 

The  sanctification  of  the  Lord's  day  by  meeting  in  honor  of  the 
resurrection  of  the  Saviour,  and  especially  with  a  reference  to  the  cele- 
bration of  the  Lord's  supper,  is  essential  to  the  edification,  spirituality, 
holiness,  usefulness  and  happiness  of  the  Christian  community.  It  is  not 
designed  to  throw  into  the  shade  any  other  duties  of  the  Christian 
Church  while  contending  for  those  above  stated  ;  but  because  no  society 
save  the  Disciples  of  Christ  so  regard,  observe  and  celebrate  the  Lord's 
day.  We  endeavor  to  arrest  the  attention  of  our  fellow  professors  to  the 
great  design  of  it  and  of  the  coming  together  of  the  members  of  Christ's 
family  on  that  day.  When  assembled  for  this  chief  purpose,  the  reading 
of  the  Scriptures,  teaching,  exhortation,  prayer,  praise,  contributions  for 
the  poor,  and  discipline  when  called  for,  are  all  in  order  and  necessary 
to  the  growth  of  the  Christian  Church  in  all  the  graces  of  the  Spirit,  and 
in  all  the  fruits  of  holiness. — ALEX.  CAMPBELL,  in  Millennial  Harbinger, 
Vol.  I.,  p.  534,  New  Series. 

And  what  an  audacious  wrong  and  unutterable  blunder 
would  it  be  for  God's  chosen  people  to  adopt  an  order 
that  should  defraud  themselves,  their  children,  their 
neighbors  and  their  neighbor's  children  of  such  a 
glorious  privilege. 

If  we  could  imagine  two  communities,  one  of 
which  should,  with  their  children  and  their  children's 
children,  diligently  devote  the  Lord's  day  to  purposes 


PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS. 

of  moral,  religious  and  intellectual  improvement,  while 
the  other  community  should  waste  the  day  in  idle  and 
frivolous  dissipation,  what  unmeasured  progress  would 
ultimately  be  made  by  one  beyond  that  made  by  the 
other.  And  to  which  of  these  two  classes  will  that 
favored  people  belong  to  whom  will  be  awarded  the 
high  privilege  of  introducing  among  jarring  sects  and 
parties  the  true  millennial  church  ? 

And  do  not  these  considerations  go  far  to  explain 
the  contrast  that  is  everywhere  seen  to  exist  between 
Protestant  and  Catholic  countries  ?  Among  Protestants 
the  day  is  a  day  to  be  sanctified  to  purposes  of  relig- 
ious worship,  among  Catholics  it  is  a  holiday. 

The  peculiarity  of  our  position  creates  an  invincible 
necessity  that  we  shall  make  the  largest  possible  pro- 
vision for  the  moral,  intellectual  and  religious  training 
and  development  of  our  people.  This  provision  is 
largely  found  in  keeping  the  ordinances  of  the  Lord's 
house  and  the  Lord's  day.  We  have  made  a  vow, 
and  that  vow  is  recorded  in  heaven,  that  we  will  meet 
together  every  first  day  of  the  week  to  break  bread. 
To  do  otherwise — to  show  a  good-natured  imbecility  of 
purpose — to  drift  helplessly  along  in  the  usages  of  the 
Old  Baptists,  conscious  in  our  own  hearts  that  this  is 
not  the  ancient  order  of  things,  and  having  sternly 
demanded  conformity  to  the  apostolic  order,  at  what- 
ever sacrifice  of  peace,  now  to  suffer  our  own  brethren 
to  travel  on  in  the  old  ruts,  rather  than  hazard  the  pain 
and  trouble  that  will  be  the  price  of  reform,  would  be 
a  folly  so  inexcusable,  a  shame  so  unutterable,  that 
the  very  stones  might  well  cry  out  against  us. 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 

Professor  William  H.  Whitsitt,  of  the  Southern 
Baptist  Theological  Seminary,  at  Louisville,  Ky. ,  has 
written  a  book  that  has  for  its  leading  feature  to  make 
it  appear  that  the  Disciples  are  an  ' '  offshoot  from  the 
Sandemanians. " 

The  Sandemanians,  like  the  Baptists,  had  both 
faults  and  virtues.  They  were  one  of  the  earliest 
sects  of  the  Scotch  Presbyterians  to  protest  against  a 
union  of  Church  and  State ;  they  practiced  a  weekly 
breaking  of  the  loaf;  held  to  a  plurality  ot  elders  in 
every  church,  and  were  exceptionally  helpful  to  the 
poor ;  and  surely,  even  Dr.  Whitsitt  will  not  call  these 
damnable  heresies.  But  they  were  also  rigid  separa- 
tists. They  were  Calvinists  of  the  straitest  sect,  and 
made  all  their  opinions  a  bond  of  union.  In  this  they 
were  like  the  Baptists,  but  essentially  dissimilar  to  the 
Disciples.  They  exalted  feet  washing  and  the  holy 
kiss  into  church  ordinances,  and  excluded  all  who  did 
not  agree  with  them  in  these  opinions,  just  as  the  Bap- 
tists exclude  from  the  Lord's  table  all  who  are  not  of 
"our  faith  and  order,"  though  they  admit  that  those 
persons  thus  excluded  are  regenerated,  accepted  of  the 
Lord,  and  enjoy  the  indwelling  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
Differing  from  the  Sandemanians  in  the  most  essential 
element  of  our  plea,  we  hold  a  very  remote  relation- 
ship to  them — that  of  fortieth  cousin,  perhaps.  The 

257 


258  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

Disciples  are  just  as  evidently  an  offshoot  from  the 
Baptists,  as  children  are  an  offshoot  from  the  parental 
stock. 

Twenty  years  after  the  writer  had  begun  his  work 
in  Kansas,  he  was  able  to  count  among  fifty  churches 
which  had  been  organized  within  his  knowledge, 
twenty-five  that  were  dead ;  and  there  were  six  meet- 
ing-houses that  were  left  unoccupied  or  sold  for  debt. 
And  the  church  members  would  say  to  me:  "  We 
can  neither  preach,  nor  pray,  nor  read  the  Scriptures, 
nor  break  the  loaf  to  edification,  and  we  are  too  poor 
to  hire  a  preacher.  What  shall  we  do  ?"  They  had 
no  training,  save  that  training  they  had  obtained  in 
the  old  Baptist  churches,  or  one  similar  in  our  own, 
and  now  that  they  were  scattered  over  the  great  West, 
and  were  poor  in  this  world's  goods,  they  were  indeed 
in  a  pitiably  helpless  condition. 

I  sometimes  said,  "Get  up  a  Sunday-school." 
But  the  old  heads  would  get  together  and  begin  to 
debate  where  Cain  got  his  wife,  or  who  was  the  father 
of  Melchisedec,  or  what  was  the  thorn  in  the  flesh 
that  afflicted  Paul ;  or  they  would  dispute  over  the 
mode  of  baptism,  or  the  operation  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
and  the  boys,  verifying  the  old  adage  that  the  devil 
always  finds  work  for  idle  hands  to  do,  and  not  appre- 
ciating this  sort  of  thing,  would  shoot  paper  balls  at 
each  other  and  at  the  old  folks,  and  the  girls  would  do 
naughty  things  and  grieve  their  mothers,  and  the 
whole  thing  would  go  up  in  smoke. 

Nothing  seemed  to  be  left  to  these  brethren,  only 
the  protracted  meeting  and  monthly  preaching.  To 
many  of  them  ' '  pastorating  "  was  one  of  the  sorceries 
which,  with  the  mother  of  Babylon,  had  bewitched  the 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  259 

world.  These  brethren  seemed  to  have  forgotten  that 
Paul  gives  highest  praise  to  that  elder  that  not  only 
rules  well,  but  so  addicts  himself  to  the  ministry  of  the 
Word  and  teaching  as  to  require  that  he  shall  be  sus- 
tained by  the  freewill  offerings  of  the  brethren.  And 
when  we  sought  an  arrangement  by  which  all  should 
give — each  man,  according  to  his  ability — we  were 
alarmed  with  fearful  prognostications  of  evil :  "Beware  ! 
beware!"  These  brethren  said,  "You  are  making  a 
veritable  Popish  bull,  and  he  will  gore  you  to  death. 
Beware  of  missionary  societies !  '  And  when  we 
turned  to  these  men  and  besought  them,  "Tell  us, 
dear  brethren,  how  we  shall  obtain,  without  offense, 
the  means  to  send  help  to  those  perishing  churches  ?  " 
they  were  silent.  This  was  not  their  function.  Their 
vocation  was  to  warn  the  people  against  Popish  bulls 
and  human  missionary  societies,  for  which  there  can 
not  be  found  a  thus  saith  the  Lord,  in  express  terms 
or  by  an  approved  precedent. 

Meantime  the  churches  in  the  older  States  had 
contributed  one  hundred  thousand  Disciples — this  has 
sometimes  been  the  estimated  number — as  emigrants 
to  the  great  West,  and  these  were  scattered  over  its 
wide  extended  Territories,  and  it  was  to  be  shown  how 
far  this  contribution,  more  precious  than  gold  or  silver 
or  costliest  gems,  should  be  as  water  spilled  on  the 
ground,  or  as  treasure  cast  into  the  bottom  of  the  sea, 
or  how  far  it  should  be  as  precious  seed  bearing  fruit, 
some  thirty  fold,  some  sixty,  and  some  one  hun- 
dred fold. 

When  our  first  churches  were  organized  in  Kansas, 
Alexander  Campbell  had  become  old  and  well-stricken 
in  years.  I  have  already  written  of  the  missionary 


26"O  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

society  that  was  created  in  1864,  and  of  the  great  con- 
vention held  in  Leavenworth  City  in  1865,  in  which 
we  sought  to  perfect  the  workings  of  that  society. 
Within  the  following  year  Mr.  Campbell  died,  and  the 
always  welcome  Millennial  Harbinger  ceased  its  monthly 
visits.  The  voice  of  Mr.  C.  had  been  a  bugle  blast 
calling  men  to  heroic  deeds,  and  his  overshadowing 
influence  had  restrained  from  that  tendency  to  division, 
for  opinion's  sake,  which  is  our  inheritance  from  our 
common  Protestantism.  But  now  a  great  emigration 
had  come  into  Kansas  from  every  part  of  the  United 
States,  and  among  these  were  many  who  looked  with 
no  favor  on  any  innovation  on  the  traditions  of  the 
fathers. 

Mr.  C.  had  said  in  his  notable  debate  with  the  Rev. 
N.  L.  Rice,  at  Lexington,  Ky.:  "  Men  formerly  of  all 
persuasions,  and  of  all  denominations  and  prejudices, 
have  been  baptized  on  this  good  confession,  and  have 
united  in  one  community.  Among  them  are  found 
those  who  had  been  Romanists,  Episcopalians,  Presby- 
terians, Methodists,  Baptists,  Restorationists,  Quakers, 
Arians,  Unitarians,  etc.,  etc.  We  have  one  Lord, 
one  faith,  one  baptism,  but  various  opinions.  All 
these  persons,  of  so  many  and  contradictory  opinions, 
weekly  meet  around  our  Lord's  table  in  hundreds  of 
churches  all  over  the  land.  Our  bond  of  union  is  faith 
in  the  slain  Messiah,  in  his  death  for  our  sins  and  his 
resurrection  for  our  justification." 

It  is  perfectly  apparent  that  to  harmonize  these 
elements — often  opposite  and  conflicting — thus  brought 
together  in  one  body  was  no  easy  task,  but  we  had 
more  than  this  to  do ;  we  were  also  to  harmonize  the 
fierce  antagonisms  growing  out  of  our  early  contests, 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  26 1 

and  then  to  make  those  brethren  who  had  been  here- 
tofore averse  to  any  combination  whatever  for  religious 
work  other  than  that  of  the  single  congregation — to 
make  them  feel  the  absolute  necessity  of  united  action 
and  cooperation.  This  was  indeed  a  task  most  diffi- 
cult. And  if  the  final  good  results  have  only  slowly 
become  apparent  we  are  entitled  to  the  judgment  of 
charity. 

It  is  admitted  that  every  liberty  that  God  has  given 
to  men  may  be  abused,  and  has  been  abused.  Mar- 
riage, religion,  civil  government,  the  rights  of  property, 
eating  and  drinking — in  short,  all  liberty,  of  whatever 
kind,  may  be  and  has  been  abused.  Still  we  must  use 
our  liberty,  our  very  existence  depends  upon  it.  I 
have  said  it  already,  and  I  say  again,  if  sixty  millions 
of  the  American  people  can  unite  together  to  promote 
the  public  tranquillity,  and  all  citizens  enjoy  more  of 
personal  liberty  than  they  could  enjoy  if  every  county 
were  an  independent  principality,  then  our  whole 
brotherhood,  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  may  be 
trusted  to  meet  together,  by  their  messengers  or  in 
person,  to  promote  necessary  Christian  work  without 
endangering  our  Christian  liberties.  If  all  the  churches 
of  Macedonia  coulcl  unite  together  to  send  relief  to  the 
poor  saints  at  Jerusalem,  then,  surely,  the  brethren 
everywhere  may  combine  together  to  send  relief  to 
people  perishing  for  want  of  the  word  of  life. 

And  so  with  much  weariness  and  painfulness,  and 
often  with  gratuitous  and  unrequited  labor,  with  long 
rides  by  day  and  by  night,  and  much  exposure  to  heat 
and  cold,  to  floods  and  storms,  and  to  rough  treatment 
by  wicked  men — in  short,  with  that  relentless  and  per- 
sistent toil  which  makes  a  man  old  before  his  time, 


262  PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS. 

and  in  which  one  man  has  carried  on  the  work  of  two 
men  year  after  year,  I  have  labered  on,  never  doubt- 
ing, but  always  hoping  for  that  good  time  coming, 
when  churches  will  be  just,  and  give  honest  pay  to 
honest  men  who  do  honest  work.  My  hope  has  been 
that  if  I  can  not  live  to  profit  by  that  better  order  of 
things,  it  will  at  least  be  better  for  the  men  that  come 
after  me. 

The  wife  of  a  traveling  evangelist  will  always  be 
the  proper  object  of  pity  and  sympathy,  if  pity  and 
sympathy  are  to  be  given.  She  is  not  cheered  by  the 
smiles  of  admiring  crowds,  nor  does  she  feel  the  intox- 
ication of  flattering  tongues.  She  dwells  at  home  in 
the  desolation  and  loneliness  of  a  practical  widowhood, 
and  often  ekes  out  a  meager  support  from  a  stingy  and 
starveling  salary. 

But  somebody  has  to  do  this  frontier  and  pioneer 
work ;  and  might  it  not  as  well  be  me  and  my  wife  as 
any  other  man  and  his  wife  ? 

I  have  given  a  wide  range  to  these  "Recollections." 
In  doing  so,  I  have  not  followed  the  example  of  a 
cowardly,  corrupted  and  compromising  Christianity, 
but  rather  have  imitated  the  robust  and  manly  courage 
of  the  writers  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament,  who 
tell  of  the  deeds  of  good  men  and  bad  men,  and  who 
also  use  the  same  freedom  in  speaking  of  the  evil  deeds 
of  wicked  rulers  that  they  use  in  speaking  of  the  things 
that  more  immediately  concern  the  spiritual  and 
eternal  interests  of  men. 

I  have  made  the  briefest  possible  mention  of  the 
hapless  condition  our  churches  were  in  twenty  years 
ago.  The  picture  is  neither  flattering  nor  cheering; 
but  right  royally  are  the  churches  now  redeeming 


PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS.  263 

themselves  from  the  reproach  they  were  under  then. 
A  pastor  is  now  being  settled  in  each  church  as  fast 
as  the  pecuniary  circumstances  of  the  congregation  will 
permit,  and  a  grand  enthusiasm  in  Sunday-school  work, 
simplifying  and  illustrating  all  its  details,  has  made  it 
possible  for  the  weakest  and  poorest  church  to  keep 
itself  alive.  Wherever  there  are  children  with  their 
young  enthusiasm — and  the  children,  like  the  poor,  are 
always  with  us — and  wherever  there  are  parents  ready 
to  lead  their  children  in  the  way  in  which  they  should 
go,  there  the  permanency  of  a  church  is  assured. 

And  now,  with  many  misgivings  as  touching  our 
immediate  future,  but  with  an  abiding  hope  of  triumph 
in  the  end,  I  bid  the  reader  farewell. 


CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

REMINISCENCES. 
BY  MRS.  ROSETTA  B.  HASTINGS. 

When  father  went  back  to  Illinois,  after  he  was 
rafted,  we  visited  for  several  weeks  among  the 
churches  where  he  had  preached.  Then  we  returned 
with  him  to  Kansas,  to  visit  my  uncle,  and  to  stay 
on  our  claim  awhile,  lest  some  person  should  jump  it. 
We  left  our  goods  at  Mt.  Sterling,  for  father  had 
promised  to  preach  there  that  winter;  but  he  told  us 
that  he  had  determined  to  move  to  Kansas  sooner 
than  he  had  first  expected.  We  ferried  the  Missouri 
River  near  Jefferson  City,  and  crossed  the  Kansas 
River  in  the  woods,  where  Kansas  City,  Kansas,  now 
stands.  There  was  little  of  Kansas  City  then,  except  a 
few  warehouses  where  freight  was  landed  for  Indepen- 
dence, which  was  the  starting  point  of  the  Santa  Fe  trail. 

Claims  were  being  taken  so  rapidly  that  we  re- 
mained to  hold  ours,  while  father  returned  to  Illinois 
to  preach.  Two  families  in  one  room  made  it  rather 
crowded,  but  we  had  a  comfortable  cabin.  It  con- 
tained a  twelve-paned  window — the  only  one  in  the 
settlement ;  cabins  usually  had  no  windows,  or  very 
small  ones.  Mr.  May's  folks  had  oiled  paper  over  a 
narrow  opening,  which  they  closed  with  a  board  shutter. 

I  asked  their  little  girl  why  they  did  not  have  a  larger 
264 


PERSONAL  RECOLLECTIONS.  265 

window,  and  she  said  the  Indians  might  get  in.  But 
no  Indians  troubled  us. 

When  father  came  home,  April  3Oth,  we  all  ran 
out  to  meet  him.  But  mother's  quick  eye  detected 
something  wrong.  "Why,  I  look  all  right,  don't  I  ?"  he 
asked,  smiling.  When  we  reached  the  house  she 
again  questioned  him,  and  he  sat  down,  rolled  up  his 
sleeve,  and  showed  us  his  arm,  brown  with  tar,  and 
fuzzy  with  cotton.  Then  he  told  us  his  story.  They 
had  not  tarred  his  face,  except  a  spot  on  his  forehead, 
where,  he  said,  they  had  stuck  a  bunch  of  cotton  as 
large  as  his  two  fists.  The  road  to  Ocena,  as  our 
post-office  was  called,  ran  up  the  bluff  now  known  to 
Atchison  people  as  Sam  Kingstown.  On  the  top  of 
that  ridge  he  had  stopped,  and  pulled  off  his  coat  of 
tar  and  cotton,  put  on  his  clothes  arid  come  home. 

A  few  evenings  after  that,  we  heard  that  a  com- 
pany of  South  Carolinians  had  camped  near  Mr.  May's 
house.  Father  said  they  had  probably  come  after 
either  himself  or  Caleb  May.  So  he  went  up  to  Mr, 
May's,  to  see  what  to  do  about  it.  After  he  left, 
uncle  nailed  shakes  over  the  window,  and  cleaned  up 
his  old  flint-lock  musket,  and  loaded  it  carefully. 
Aunt  moulded  bullets,  while  mother  got  the  ax  and 
butcher  knife,  and  then  stuffed  rags  in  the  cracks,  and 
brought  in  the  half-bushel  to  turn  over  the  light,  so 
that  they  could  not  see  where  to  shoot.  Then  we  all 
took  turns  standing  out  in  the  darkness  at  the  corner 
of  the  house,  to  keep  watch,  and  listen  for  the  sound 
of  guns  from  Mr.  May's.  Father  came  home  at 
eleven.  He  said  the  South  Carolinians  had  asked 
permission  to  sleep  in  an  empty  cabin.  He  and  Mr. 
May  had  followed  them,  and  he  had  crept  under  the 


266  PERSONAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

cabin  floor  and  listened,  and  they  had  seemed  to  be 
sleeping  soundly.  So  we  all  went  to  bed,  but  father 
slept  with  a  revolver  under  his  head,  which  Mr.  May 
had  insisted  on  lending  him.  The  next  morning  the 
South  Carolinians  went  quietly  on  their  journey.  We 
learned  afterwards  that  they  were  on  their  way  to  lay 
out  the  town  of  Marysville,  in  Marshall  County,  and 
did  not  know  that  they  were  in  the  same  neighbor- 
hood with  Pardee  Butler  and  Caleb  May. 

Father  wrote  an  account  of  the  Atchison  mob,  and 
took  it  to  Lawrence  to  be  published  in  the  Herald  of 
Freedom.  The  Congressional  Committee  summoned 
him  to  give  his  testimony.  While  there,  the  Lawrence 
people  gave  him  a  pistol,  and  insisted  that  he  must 
carry  it.  Father  told  us  how  the  Carolinians  had 
sworn  to  kill  him,  when  they  heard  his  testimony  be- 
fore the  Committee  ;  and  as  soon  as  he  heard  they 
were  coming  back,  after  the  destruction  of  Lawrence, 
he  knew  that  he  was  in  danger.  Brave  as  he  might 
be,  he  saw  no  good  in  allowing  himself  to  be  butchered 
by  those  infuriated  men,  and  resolved  to  keep  out  of 
their  way.  He  kept  his  horse  picketed  on  the  grass 
near  where  he  was  at  work,  with  saddle  and  bridle 
close  by.  One  day  as  I  was  helping  him  drop  sod 
corn  on  uncle's  claim — two  miles  from  our  own — while 
uncle  worked  at  his  new  cabin,  we  saw  some  horsemen 
coming  over  the  hill. 

"They  are  South  Carolinians,"  said  father,  and 
saddling  his  horse,  he  rode  in  the  opposite  direction. 
In  the  afternoon  he  came  back,  saying  that  they  had 
followed  him  all  day,  and  he  had  circled  here  and 
there  over  the  hills,  and  he  had  happened  to  meet  two 
of  them,  one  at  a  time,  and  recognized  them  as  some 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  26/ 

of  the  men  who  had  mobbed  him ;  and  they  knew  him 
too,  but  they  had  not  dared  to  attack  him  single- 
handed.  He  thought  they  were  trying  to  get  together, 
to  attack  him  the  next  time  they  saw  him.  He 
wanted  uncle  to  change  coats  and  hats  writh  him,  so 
that,  if  they  saw  him  in  the  distance,  they  would  not 
know  him.  He  wore  a  black  coat  and  hat,  and  uncle 
wore  a  white  palmleaf  hat,  and  had  with  him,  in  case 
of  rain,  an  old-fashioned,  light  gray  overcoat.  These 
father  put  on,  and  throwing  a  white  cloth  over  his 
horse,  rode  away,  telling  us  that  he  would  not  be  at 
home  that  night,  and  that  we  need  not  look  for  him 
until  we  saw  him.  Day  after  day  those  men  followed 
him,  like  hounds  after  a  wolf.  Through  the  day  he 
rode  here  and  there,  spending  the  night  with  first  one 
neighbor,  then  another.  One  day,  when  uncle  was 
working  at  his  cabin,  some  South  Carolinians  rode  up, 
and  not  seeing  father,  they  searched  the  woods  and 
ravine  near  by,  and  rode  away.  Father  spent  one 
night  with  Mr.  Duncan,  and  had  just  gone  out  of 
sight  in  the  morning,  when  the  South  Carolinians 
rode  up. 

"Does  Pardee  Butler  ride  a  bay  horse?"  they 
asked. 

"  No,  sir,  "  replied  Mr.  Duncan. 

"  We  saw  a  man  ride  into  the  woods  just  now," 
said  they,  "that  looked  like  Pardee  Butler,  but  he 
was  riding  a  bay  horse." 

"Pardee  Butler  never  rides  a  bay  horse."  And 
so  they  went  the  other  way.  Father  rode  a  spirited 
young  "  copper-bottom  "  horse,  named  Copper,  that 
looked  either  bay  or  gray  at  a  distance,  as  the  light 
happened  to  shine. 


268  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

One  day,  father  went  to  the  post-office  after  his 
mail,  and  two  young  neighbors  riding  up,  and  seeing 
his  horse  hitched  there,  thought  to  have  some  fun. 
With  loud  shouts  they  galloped  up,  and  hearing  them, 
he  stepped  to  the  door,  sprang  on  his  horse,  and  dashed 
off  over  the  hill,  with  them  after  him.  But  when  they 
reached  the  top  of  the  hill  they  found  that  he  was 
standing  on  the  ground  behind  his  horse,  with  his 
pistol  levelled  at  them  across  his  saddle.  They  were 
glad  to  make  themselves  known,  and  own  up  to  the 
joke. 

Father  slipped  home  a  few  minutes  almost  every 
day,  to  let  us  know  that  he  was  yet  alive,  and  to  see 
if  we  were  safe.  Every  night  we  fastened  up  the  house, 
expecting  that  before  morning  the  Ruffians  would  try 
to  burst  in  to  search  for  father.  Those  were  days  of 
terrible  anxiety  for  mother,  for  she  thought  every  time 
father  rode  away  that  it  was  probably  their  last  part- 
ing. Yet  she  was  brave  and  quiet,  and  said  little. 

But  father  grew  tired  of  being  dogged,  and  told  us 
that  he  was  going  to  Lawrence.  He  was  gone  some 
time  and  we  did  not  know  where  he  was. 

My  little  four  year  old  brother  George  heard 
much  talk  of  Border  Ruffians,  and  he  went  around 
flourishing  a  long  thorn  for  a  dagger,  and  boasting  in 
childish  accent :  "  Bad  Border 'uffians  s'an't  get  my 
pa.  I  hit  'em  in  'e  eye  wid  my  dagger."  One  day  I 
was  helping  uncle  drop  corn,  when  George  came  run- 
ning to  us,  much  excited.  "  I  foun'  a  Border  'uffian  ! 
I  foun'  a  Border  'uffian  !  I  hit  'em  in  'e  eye  !  I  hit 
'em  in  'e  eye  !  "  We  ran  to  see  what  he  had  found, 
and  he  ran  ahead,  picking  up  pebbles  as  he  ran,  "to 
fro  at  'e  bad  Border  'uffian."  What  do  you  think  he 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  269 

had  found  ?  A  mud  turtle !  And  that  was  his  idea  of 
a  Border  Ruffian.  But  he  had  a  chance  to  see  one. 
One  day,  while  father  was  away,  two  men  rode  up  to 
the  house,  whom  we  knew  to  be  Border  Ruffians  by  their 
red  shirts  and  the  revolvers  in  their  belts.  Mother  told 
George  and  me  to  hide  behind  the  door,  while  she 
talked  to  them.  They  asked  for  a  drink  of  water,  but 
while  they  waited  for  it,  one  of  them  rode  almost  into 
the  door,  and  looked  around  the  room — we  had  only  one 
room — evidently  looking  for  father.  George  became 
impatient,  and  kept  whispering  "  Let  me  out,  let  me 
see  a  Border  'uffian.  I  will  see  a  Border  'uffian."  And 
he  pulled  loose  from  me  and  peeped  around  the  edge 
of  the  door. 

When  father  came  home  he  brought  some  type, 
and  some  half-printed  papers,  blackened  with  powder, 
that  he  had  picked  up  in  the  sand  on  the  river  bank  at 
Lawrence,  where  the  Border  Ruffians  had  thrown  the 
Herald  of  Freedom  press  and  papers  into  the  river.  On 
the  printed  side  of  the  papers  was  the  article  he  had 
written  about  his  last  mob. 

Years  afterwards  I  asked  father  what  he  was  doing 
when  he  was  gone  from  home  in  May  and  June,  1856. 
He  replied  :  "  I  was  organizing  the  Republican  party 
in  northern  Kansas.  I  first  went  to  Lawrence,  and 
there  the  leaders  insisted  that  I  ought  to  visit  various 
points  in  the  northern  part  of  the  State,  and  organize 
the  new  party,  and  I  did  so." 

Soon  after  father's  return,  in  June,  some  of  the 
neighbors  announced  a  meeting  for  him  at  Bro.  Elliott's, 
four  miles  from  our  house,  of  which  he  speaks  in 
Chapter  XVII.  To  that  meeting  the  people  came 
armed,  for  the  report  of  the  appointment  had  reached 


2/O  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

Atchison.  They  left  their  guns  in  their  wagons,  or  set 
them  in  convenient  corners,  while  they  listened  to  the 
preaching  ;  for  they  were  determined  to  defend  father 
in  case  of  attack. 

Mr.  John  Quiett,  who  is  yet  one  of  our  neighbors, 
was  one  of  three  men  who  stood  guard  at  the  fence, 
watching  for  approaching  enemies,  while  father 
preached.  But  no  attack  was  made. 

Uncle  Milo  had  taken  us  to  the  meeting;  and 
mother  asked  father  to  go  home  with  us,  and  he  re- 
plied, "Yes,  I  am  going  home  once  more." 

Mother  told  him  she  would  be  glad  to  have  him  go 
with  us,  but  she  was  afraid  to  have  him  stay  all 
night. 

"I  am  going  to  stay  at  home  for  one  night,  for  I 
have  some  letters  to  write,"  was  his  reply. 

Mother  was  very  uneasy  on  the  road  home,  for  she 
said  the  Border  Ruffians  would  be  watching  for  us  in 
the  woods.  But  we  reached  home  without  molestation. 
Father  sat  up  until  after  midnight,  writing  letters,  and 
then  went  to  bed  and  slept  safely.  The  next  day  one 
of  our  neighbors  told  us  that  just  at  dark  that  evening 
she  saw  a  band  of  men  ride  into  the  woods  between 
her  house  and  ours,  but  she  was  afraid  to  come  over 
and  tell  us.  Other  neighbors  saw  them  go  out  on 
Monday  morning,  and  ride  toward  town.  A  few  days 
afterwards,  a  neighbor,  who  stood  ' '  on  both  sides  of 
the  fence  "  in  regard  to  politics,  went  to  Atchison, 
and  he  told  us  that  nine  South  Carolinians  hid  in  our 
woods  to  take  father  that  night,  but  they  had  seen  his 
light  burning  so  late  that  they  were  afraid,  and  went 
back  and  told  that  he  had  forty  armed  men,  who  stood 
guard  all  night,  and  they  could  not  take  him. 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  2/1 

But  father  was  not  by  any  means  the  only  one 
whom  the  Border  Ruffians  molested.  They  were  con- 
tinually riding  around  the  country,  frightening  the 
people,  and  "pressing"  horses — which  was  another 
name  for  stealing  them.  And  the  Free  State  man 
who  made  himself  prominent  was  liable  to  be  shot 
any  time  they  could  catch  him.  The  Free  State  men 
kept  their  horses  hidden  in  the  brush,  and  often  hid 
there  themselves.  Every  time  any  of  the  neighbors 
saw  several  horsemen  riding  over  the  prairie,  they 
thought  it  was  the  Border  Ruffians. 

One  day  Caleb  May  saw  quite  a  company  of  men 
riding  toward  his  place.  He  and  his  son  and  hired 
man  stationed  themselves  under  the  bank,  where  both 
the  house  and  the  ford  would  be  within  range  of  their 
guns.  Mrs.  May  was  to  talk  to  the  horsemen  as  they 
rode  past  the  house,  and,  if  they  were  Border  Ruffians, 
she  was  to  shut  the  door,  as  a  signal  to  the  husband  to 
to  be  ready  for  attack.  When  they  rode  up,  however, 
they  proved  to  be  Mr.  Speck,  and  about  twenty  other 
neighbors  from  the  lower  neighborhood,  who  had  brought 
their  horses  up  to  Mr.  May's  to  guard  them  from  the 
Ruffians,  who  stood  in  great  fear  of  Caleb  May. 

When  the  Ruffians  returned  to  Missouri,  after  one 
of  their  raids,  some  of  them  told  in  De  Kalb,  where 
Mr.  May  lived  before  coming  to  Kansas,  that  they 
had  killed  him.  One  of  his  old  neighbors,  named 
Jones,  rode  into  De  Kalb  one  day,  and  was  accosted 
by  on  e  of  the  returned  Border  Ruffians  with  ' '  We  've 
got  Caleb  May  this  time ;  got  his  head  on  a  ten-foot 
pole." 

"  Anybody  killed  ?"  queried  Mr.  Jones. 

-Oh,  no." 


2/2  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

'  'Anybody  hurt  ?" 

''No." 

' ' Then  it 's  a  lie !"  responded  Mr.  Jones.  "I  know 
Caleb  May  well  enough  to  know  that  when  you  get 
him  somebody  's  going  to  get  hurt." 

Mr.  May  had  for  years  been  a  temperance  man,  in 
the  midst  of  a  drinking  population  of  the  frontiers  of 
Arkansas  and  Missouri,  and  made  the  first  temperance 
speech  ever  made  in  De  Kalb.  His  oldest  son,  when 
fifteen,  had  never  tasted  whisky.  One  day,  when  Mr. 
May  had  gone  on  a  journey,  the  boy  was  in  town,  and 
loafers,  seeing  him  pass  a  saloon,  shouted,  ' '  Cale 
May's  gone;  let's  have  some  fun  with  his  boy." 
So  they  dragged  him  into  the  saloon,  and  poured 
whisky  down  his  throat,  and  sent  him  home  drunk  to 
his  mother.  When  Mr.  May  returned  home  they  told 
him  what  had  happened. 

At  that  time  there  was  a  local  option  temperance 
law  in  Missouri,  under  which  a  majority  of  the  people 
in  a  township,  by  signing  a  petition  to  the  court,  could 
have  the  saloons  abolished  as  public  nuisances.  De 
Kalb  was  full  of  saloons,  and  there  was  one  on  almost 
every  road  corner  in  the  county. 

Years  afterwards  I  heard  Mr.  May  tell  the  incident, 
and  his  eyes  flashed,  as  he  said  with  his  slow,  strong 
emphasis,  "  When  I  came  home  and  heard  what  had 
happened,  you  bet  I  WAS  wrathy  !  I  just  jumped  on  my 
horse,  and  I  rode  that  township  up  and  down,  and  I 
never  stopped  until  I  had  signers  enough  to  my  peti- 
tion, and  I  cleaned  every  saloon  out  of  that  township." 

Doubtless  many  a  man  signed  that  petition  because 
he  dared  not  refuse ;  for,  although  usually  kind  and 
quiet,  few  dared  to  face  his  anger. 


PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS.  2/3 

When  Lawrence  was  besieged,  in  May,  a  company 
of  Free  State  men  was  raised  around  here,  and  they 
sent  John  Quiett  to  Lawrence  to  offer  their  services 
for  the  defense  of  the  town,  but  were  refused  by  Mr. 
Pomeroy.  Soon  after  the  return  of  the  South  Caro- 
linians from  Lawrence  they  found  Mr.  Quiett  in  the 
Atchison  postoffice.  They  at  once  seized  him  as  a 
Free  State  leader,  and  began  to  debate  whether  to 
shoot  or  hang  him.  But  one  of  the  Pro-slavery  mer- 
chants of  Atchison  interfered,  and  begged  them  to  let 
him  go.  He  got  out,  mounted  his  horse,  and  started 
for  home,  twelve  miles  away.  But  the  Carolinians, 
like  Pharaoh  of  old,  repented  that  they  had  let  him  go, 
and  soon  started  in  pursuit.  It  was  a  hot  race,  for  as 
Mr.  Quiett  reached  the  top  of  each  hill  he  could  see 
his  pursuers  coming  behind  him.  But  he  reached 
home ;  and  when  they  came  to  the  creek  near  his 
home,  they  were  afraid  to  pass  through  the  woods — 
probably  fearing  an  ambush — and  returned  to  town. 
But  parties  were  sent  out  to  take  him  when  he  was  un- 
prepared ;  and,  finding  that  he  was  hunted,  he  was 
afraid  to  stay  at  home  nights.  I  have  heard  Mrs. 
Quiett  say,  that  one  day,  when  her  husband  had  been 
away  several  days,  he  came  home  for  a  little  while, 
and  she  gave  him  something  to  eat.  After  eating  he 
lay  down  to  sleep  on  a  lounge  that  stood  along  the 
front  side  of  the  bed.  She  was  rocking  her  baby  in 
the  middle  of  the  cabin,  when  the  Border  Ruffians 
rode  up  to  the  house,  and  one  of  them,  riding  so  close 
that  his  horse's  head  was  inside  of  the  door,  leaned  for- 
ward and  looked  around  the  cabin.  The  door  was  at 
the  foot  of  the  bed,  and  it  so  happened  that  the  lounge 
on  which  Mr.  Quiett  lay  was  so  close  to  the  bed,  and 


2/4  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

so  low,  that  the  edge  of  the  bed  just  hid  his  body. 
The  Ruffian  said  not  a  word,  but  looked  until  he 
seemed  satisfied  that  there  was  no  one  in  the  room  but 
Mrs.  Quiett,  and  then  they  both  rode  away.  She  said 
that  she  could  not  speak,  but  felt  as  though  she  was 
frozen  to  her  chair,  for  she  was  sure  that,  if  they  had 
seen  Mr.  Quiett,  they  would  have  shot  him  before  her 
eyes.  Not  until  they  were  out  of  sight  did  she  speak 
or  stir. 

Mr.  Quiett  and  Mr.  Ross  went  with  father  to  To- 
peka,  when  the  Free  State  Legislature  and  Convention 
met,  July  4,  1856,  of  which  father  speaks  in  chapter 
XVI.  Mr.  Quiett  says  that  the  Free  State  men 
went  there  determined  to  defend  the  Legislature. 
There  were  several  large  companies  of  well-armed 
men  stationed  near,  awaiting  orders  from  the  Conven- 
tion ;  and  one  company  armed  with  Sharp's  rifles  lay 
behind  a  board  fence  by  the  side  of  the  road.  Several 
speakers  made  excited  speeches,  urging  the  members 
of  the  Convention  to  be  men,  and  defend  their  lawful 
rights,  even  at  the  risk  of  their  lives.  The  Free  State 
men  were  wrought  up  to  the  verge  of  desperation. 
The  vote  was  about  to  be  taken,  whether  or  not  to  resist 
the  troops.  There  was  much  suppressed  excitement ; 
and,  had  the  vote  been  taken  then,  it  would  undoubt- 
edly have  been  in  favor  of  resistance.  Father,  in  the 
meanwhile,  was  on  a  committee,  in  a  back  room.  Mr. 
Quiett  began  calling  for  Pardee  Butler.  Others  took 
up  the  call,  and,  hearing  it  in  the  committee  room,  he 
came  out.  They  demanded  a  speech  on  the  question 
in  debate.  He  begged  them  to  bear  their  wrongs  pa- 
tiently, and  to  allow  no  provocation  to  cause  them  to 
resist  the  United  States  authorities.  He  besought 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  2/5 

them  to  be  loyal  to  their  country,  and  never  fire  on 
the  old  stars  and  stripes.  Mr.  Quiett  said  it  was  a 
powerful  speech,  timely  and  eloquent.  When  he  sat 
down  the  tide  had  turned.  The  vote  was  taken,  and 
it  was  decided  not  to  resist  the  troops.  Mr.  Quiett  says 
that  without  a  doubt  that  speech  not  only  saved  them 
from  a  bloody  battle  that  day,  but  that  it  saved  the 
Territory  from  a  long,  fierce  war. 

After  they  disbanded,  the  members  of  the  Conven- 
tion went  out  and  sat  down  on  the  prairie  grass  to  eat 
their  dinner,  which  each  took  from  his  pocket,  or  his 
wagon.  Mr.  Quiett  and  Mr.  Ross  took  theirs  from 
the  wagon,  in  which  they  had  ridden  to  Topeka ;  but 
father  had  gone  on  horseback,  as  he  usually  did,  and 
took  his  dinner  from  the  capacious  pocket  of  his 
preacher's  saddle-bags.  Mr.  Quiett  said  that  in  getting 
out  his  dinner,  father  took  a  pistol  out  of  his  saddle- 
bags. This  created  much  merriment  for  them,  as  they 
thought  it  would  have  been  of  little  use  to  him  in  case 
of  attack.  They  told  him  that  if  that  was  where  he 
carried  it,  the  South  Carolinians  would  shoot  him  some 
day  before  he  could  unbuckle  his  saddle-bags. 

But  father  disliked  very  much  to  carry  arms,  and 
I  think  he  never  did  in  his  life,  except  for  about  two 
months  during  that  dreadful  summer. 

About  two  weeks  afterwards  we  started  to  Illinois, 
in  the  buggy.  We  crossed  the  River  at  Iowa  Point. 
About  nine  miles  northeast  of  Savannah,  in  Gentry 
county,  Missouri,  father  was  taken  very  sick,  and  we  were 
obliged  to  stop  at  the  nearest  house.  The  man  at 
whose  house  we  happened  to  stop  was  a  Mr.  Brown, 
from  Maine ;  and  he  and  his  family  were  very  kind  to 
us.  There,  for  four  weeks,  father  lay  sick  of  a  fever. 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

One  day,  while  mother  was  in  father's  room,  Mrs. 
Brown  questioned  me  about  living  in  Kansas,  and 
whether  the  Border  Ruffians  ever  troubled  us.  So  I 
told  her  how  father  had  been  treated.  Father  called 
me  into  the  bed-room,  and  said  that  I  ought  not  to 
have  told  that,  under  the  circumstances ;  that  it  would 
be  a  dreadful  thing  for  us  to  be  attacked,  with  him 
flat  on  his  back,  and  we  among  strangers.  I  replied 
that  I  thought  it  would  do  no  harm,  because  Mr. 
Brown's  folks  were  from  the  North,  and  our  friends. 
But  he  said  it  might  bring  trouble  on  Mr.  Brown  if  his 
neighbors  should  learn  that  he  had  harbored  Pardee 
Butler.  When  Mr.  Brown  came  in  at  noon,  his  wife 
told  him  the  news.  He  went  right  in,  and  told  father 
that  Butler  was  such  a  common  name,  that  he  had  no 
idea  that  he  had  the  honor  of  sheltering  Pardee  Butler. 
"  Now,"  said  he,  "you  need  not  be  uneasy  while  you 
are  here.  Yonder  hang  four  good  Sharp's  rifles,  and 
I  and  my  boys  know  how  to  use  them ;  and  nobody 
shall  touch  you  unless  they  walk  over  our  dead 
bodies." 

As  soon  as  father  was  able  to  travel  we  finished  our 
journey  in  safety.  We  visited  our  old  friends  in  Illi- 
nois, and  father  preached  on  Sundays.  While  we  were 
at  Mt.  Sterling,  he  lectured  on  temperance  one  night, 
and  the  bad  fellows  made  a  little  disturbance.  The 
previous  afternoon  I  had  visited  a  little  girl  in  the  vil- 
lage, and  we  had  found  and  thrown  away  a  nest  full  of 
rotten  eggs.  The  next  time  I  saw  her  she  said  that  her 
big  brother  was  mad  at  us,  for  he  was  saving  those 
eggs,  and  he  and  some  other  big  boys  had  intended  to 
throw  them  at  Pardee  Butler  while  he  was  making  that 
temperance  speech ;  but  when  they  went  to  the  barn, 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  2/7 

their  eggs  were  gone.  The  truth  was,  that  her  big 
brother  was  one  of  many  boys  who  were  fast  being 
made  drunkards  by  the  village  saloons. 

Mother  went  to  Ohio  on  a  visit,  and  father  went  to 
Iowa  to  attend  to  some  business.  On  his  return  he 
met  one  of  the  State  Republican  Committee,  who  in- 
sisted on  making  arrangements  for  him  to  stay  in  Illi- 
nois until  the  presidential  election,  and  speak  for  Fre- 
mont. 

It  was  raw  November  weather  when  we  started 
back  to  Kansas,  with  a  one-horse  wagon,  drawn  by 
Copper,  and  a  heavily  loaded  mule  team,  driven  by  a 
boy  named  Henry  Whitaker,  who  is  now  one  of  the 
merchants  of  Atchison.  Mother  was  sick,  and  we  had 
to  stop  a  week.  Then  the  mud  became  so  deep  that 
father  had  to  buy  a  yoke  of  oxen  and  hitch  on  behind 
the  mules.  Then  it  froze  up,  rough  and  hard,  and  we 
stopped  for  a  blacksmith  to  make  shoes  for  the  oxen, 
and  were  directed  to  stay  with  a  widow  who  had 
an  empty  house.  She  had  built  a  new  house  of  hewed 
logs,  with  a  window  in  it,  and  we  were  allowed  to  stay 
in  the  old  cabin.  She  could  not  keep  from  talking 
about  that  window. 

"I've  lived  all  my  days  without  ary  winder,  an' 
got  along  mighty  well,"  said  she.  "For  my  part,  I 
dcn't  like  winders  ;  they  make  a  house  look  so  glarin', 
like.  We  uns  never  had  ary  one  where  I  had  my  raisin'. 
But  the  childern  is  gettin'  a  heap  o'  stuck  up  notions 
these  days,  an'  they  jes'  set  up  that  we  had  to  have  a 
winder  in  our  new  house." 

The  weather  was  very  cold  the  rest  of  the  way, 
and  father  suffered  severely  from  a  felon  on  his  hand. 
When  we  reached  St.  Joseph  the  Missouri  River  was 


278  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

frozen,  and  our  teams  were  the  first  to  cross  on  the 
ice.  Father  took  the  teams  to  the  top  of  the  icy 
banks,  and  hitched  them  to  the  ends  of  the  wagon- 
tongues  by  means  of  long  chains.  We  traveled  all 
day  over  unsettled  prairie,  hoping  to  reach  Mr.  Wy- 
mer's  house,  on  Independence  Creek.  We  reached  the 
place  at  nine  o'clock,  but  no  house;  it  had  been 
burned.  It  was  very  dark,  and  bitter  cold,  but  we 
traveled  on.  At  eleven  o'clock  we  found  Mr.  Snyder's 
cabin,  where  Lancaster  is  now  built.  A  little  later 
and  we  should  have  seen  no  light.  A  party  of  belated 
surveyors  had  found  the  house  before  the  family  went 
to  bed  ;  and  they  were  just  lying  down  when  we  drove 
up.  In  those  days  no  one  thought  of  refusing  a  trav- 
eler lodging.  The  cabin  was  about  fourteen  feet 
square.  The  family  had  crowded  into  one  bed,  part 
of  the  surveyors  occupied  the  other,  and  the  rest  were 
on  the  floor.  We  had  not  eaten  a  bite  since  morning. 
The  cooking  stove  was  in  a  little,  cold,  floorless 
shed,  and  there  mother  baked  some  corn  griddle-cakes 
for  our  supper.  The  surveyors  gave  their  bed  to 
mother  and  me,  and  the  men  all  crowded  down  on  the 
floor — nineteen  in  one  room.  The  next  morning  we 
drove  on  to  our  own  house  before  getting  breakfast, 
glad  to  find  it  had  not  been  burned. 

On  Sunday,  May  10,  1857,  a  meeting  was  held  at 
our  house,  at  which  it  was  agreed  that  a  Sunday-school 
should  be  organized  the  next  Sunday,  in  Mr.  Cobb's 
grove,  near  Pardee.  There  we  met  nearly  every  Sun- 
day that  summer,  and  father  usually  preached. 

Much  of  his  time  that  summer  was  spent  in  improv- 
ing forty  acres  of  his  farm,  on  which  he  raised  some 
sod  corn  and  vegetables.  Our  corn  for  bread  was 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  2/9 

ground  in  Mr.  Wigglesworth's  treadmill,  turned  by 
oxen.  We  had  no  fruit  for  many  years,  but  a  few 
wild  sorts,  and  the  vegetables  were  a  welcome  varia- 
tion in  our  diet  of  meat  and  molasses. 

August,  29,  1857,  the  Pardee  church  was  organ- 
ized, at  the  house  of  Bro.  A.  Elliott,  with  twenty- 
seven  members.  In  October  a  frame  school-house 
was  finished  at  Pardee,  which  was  thereafter  used  for 
church  purposes.  During  father's  absence  the  meet- 
ings were  led  by  our  elders,  Dr.  Moore,  Bro.  Elliott, 
and  Bro.  Brockman.  We  often  rode  to  meeting  in  the 
ox-wagon,  as  did  some  of  our  neighbors. 


CHAPTER  XXXVII. 

REMINISCENCES CONTINUED. 

Father  again  preached  in  Illinois  from  October, 
1857,  until  New  Year.  He  preached  in  Pardee  the 
rest  of  the  winter  ;  but  in  the  spring  he  began  travel- 
ing and  preaching  in  various  parts  of  the  Territory. 
It  was  the  wettest  summer  I  ever  knew,  and  he  was 
continually  swimming  streams.  Mother  often  told 
him  that  a  man  who  could  not  swim  ought  not  to  swim 
a  horse.  But  he  continued  to  do  so  until  the  streams 
were  bridged,  many  years  later.  The  last  time  he  did 
so  was  in  the  spring  of  1871.  He  was  riding  a  little 
Indian  pony,  and  carried  some  bundles.  The  Stranger 
Creek  was  full,  and  very  cold,  and  when  his  heavy 
overcoat  became  water-soaked,  he  saw  that  the  pony 
was  about  to  be  swept  down  the  current.  Sliding  off 
from  its  back,  he  kept  his  arm  about  its  neck,  think- 
ing the  water  would  hold  part  of  his  weight.  But  he 
soon  saw  that  he  was  pulling  it  down  stream,  so  that 
it  was  likely  to  be  tangled  in  some  willows,  and  he 
reached  back  and  caught  hold  of  its  tail,  and  it  pulled 
him  safely  to  shore.  He  reached  home  very  wet,  but 
with  bundles  and  overcoat  all  safe. 

He  then  determined  to  have  a  bridge  on  the  road 
along  his  boundary  line.  But  every  man,  up  and 
down  the  creek,  wanted  a  bridge  on  his  own  line,  and 


PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS.  28 1 

so  there  was  much  opposition.  But  he  at  length  suc- 
ceeded in  obtaining  a  bridge.  This  was  the  only  one 
of  father's  many  contests  in  which  he  contended  for  a 
personal  benefit :  his  other  contests  were  all  for  the 
good  of  the  public. 

From  this  deviation  I  will  now  return  to  the  year 
1858.  Father  was  so  busy  preaching  in  other  places, 
that  he  only  preached  occasionally  in  Pardee. 

He  has  sometimes  been  accused  of  preaching  poli- 
tics. A  good  brother  who  formerly  lived  in  Missouri, 
said,  not  long  before  father's  death :  ' '  They  used  to 
tell  me  before  I  came  to  Kansas  that  Pardee  Butler 
preached  politics,  and  I  said  that  if  ever  I  heard  him 
begin  to  preach  politics,  I  was  going  to  get  right  up 
in  meeting,  and  ask  him  to  show  his  Scripture  for 
preaching  politics.  Now  I  've  been  hearing  him 
preach,  off  and  on,  for  twenty  years,  and  I  've  never 
got  up  in  meeting  yet,  for  I  've  never  heard  him  preach 
any  politics." 

The  only  sermon  that  I  can  remember  as  contain- 
ing any  allusion  to  politics,  was  one  that  he  preached 
at  Pardee  that  summer  of  1858.  It  was  from  the 
text,  "Woe  unto  you  scribes  and  Pharisees,  hypo- 
crites !  for  ye  pay  tithe  of  mint  and  anise  and  cum- 
min, and  have  omitted  the  weightier  matters  of  the 
law,  judgment,  mercy,  and  faith:  these  ought  ye  to 
have  done,  and  not  to  leave  the  other  undone."  After 
speaking  in  a  general  manner  of  Christian  duties  that 
are  left  undone  by  those  who  are  precise  about  cer- 
tain theological  points,  he  spoke  plainly  of  the  injus- 
tice and  unmercifulness  of  slavery,  and  besought 
Christians  to  be  careful  how  they  upheld  it  in  any 
manner,  lest  they  be  condemned  by  the  words  of  the  text. 


282  PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS. 

Another  sermon  that  he  preached  at  Pardee,  Au- 
gust i,  1858,  was  from  I.  Kings  xviii.  21  :  "  If  the  Lord 
be  God,  follow  him:  but  if  Baal,  then  follow  him." 
After  delineating  very  graphically  the  terrible  drouth, 
and  the  long  contest  of  Elijah  with  Ahab  and  Jezebel, 
he  told  of  the  final  triumph  of  religion,  and  the  mer- 
ited defeat  and  punishment  of  wickedness.  He  fin- 
ished with  an  eloquent  appeal  from  the  text,  "If  the 
Lord  be  God,  then  serve  him."  At  the  close  two 
boys  confessed  their  Savior.  One  of  them  was  an  or- 
phan boy,  then  making  his  home  at  my  father's  house, 
and  since  known  as  Judge  J.  J.  Locker,  of  Atchison, 
who  died  last  September. 

But  winter  came,  and  the  co-operation  that  had  en- 
gaged father  that  summer  felt  that  they  had  paid  all 
they  could  raise.  It  had  not  been  enough  to  pay  a 
hired  man,  and  meet  our  frugal  expenses.  Yet  that 
was  the  first  money  he  had  made  for  three  and  a  half 
years,  except  by  his  two  trips  to  Illinois.  He  had 
appealed  to  the  General  Missionary  Society,  and  they 
had  declined  to  support  him,  unless  he  would  promise 
not  to  say  a  word  about  slavery.  But  the  people  were 
calling  to  him  from  every  direction  to  come  and  organ- 
ize churches.  He  decided  to  appeal  personally  to  the 
churches  in  the  older  States.  From  December,  1858, 
until  May,  1859,  ne  preached  constantly  in  Illinois, 
Indiana,  Michigan  and  Ohio,  collecting  what  money 
he  could.  He  reported  $365  as  the  amount  received, 
expenses  $110,  leaving  a  balance  of  $255.  He  re- 
ceived enough  more  during  the  summer  to  make  his 
salary  $297.42. 

The  next  summer  he  preached  in  Kansas  ;  but  was 
not  gone  all  the  time,  as  when  in  other  States.     When 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  28$ 

preaching  in  distant  counties  he  was  sometimes  gone 
four  or  five  weeks,  but  he  was  sometimes  at  home  a 
part  of  every  week.  When  at  home  he  worked  very 
hard  on  the  farm,  to  accomplish  what  he  saw  must 
be  done,  that  he  might  go  back  to  his  preaching  as 
soon  as  possible.  Mother  looked  after  the  work  in  his 
absence,  and  was  a  good  manager,  but  there  was  much 
to  which  she  could  not  attend.  Father  was  nervously 
energetic,  always  working  and  walking  rapidly.  Even 
after  he  was  sixty  years  old,  although  he  was  a  slender 
man,  only  five  feet  nine  inches  in  height,  with  his  right 
arm  trembling  with  palsy,  I  have  known  robust  young 
men  to  complain  that  they  did  not  like  to  work  for 
Pardee  Butler,  because  he  would  work  with  them,  and 
they  were  ashamed  to  have  such  an  old  man  do  more 
than  they  did",  and  he  worked  so  hard  that  he  wore  them 
out.  He  scarcely  spent  an  idle  moment.  Other  men 
could  be  content  to  pass  their  time  in  careless  conver- 
sation, but  he  never  could.  Unless  he  had  some  sub- 
ject that  he  thought  especially  worthy  of  conversation, 
he  said  little.  He  seldom  spoke  of  what  he  had  done, 
and  scarcely  ever  related  any  of  the  many  experiences 
of  his  trips  away  from  home.  In  his  backwoods  boy- 
hood experiences  he  had  learned  to  make  or  mend 
almost  every  article  used  by  a  farmer.  He  was  full  of 
projects,  always  improving  something  on  the  place. 
Every  spare  moment  was  used,  either  in  fixing  some- 
thing about  the  farm,  or  in  reading  or  writing.  He 
sometimes  complained  that  the  days  were  not  half 
long  enough  to  suit  him.  He  once  told  his  sister  that 
the  Border  Ruffians  never  knew  what  a  service  they 
did  him  when  they  rafted  him,  for  he  had  leisure  to 
think  while  he  was  going  down  the  river.  My  brother 


284  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

Charley  once  said  that  father  was  so  greedy  of  time  he 
was  afraid  he  might  lose  a  minute.  Often  in  the  even- 
ing we  had  to  make  room  by  the  cooking  stove  for  his 
shaving-horse,  or  his  leather  and  harness  tools,  while 
he  worked  until  ten  or  eleven  o'clock  making  or  mend- 
ing some  implement  or  harness.  And  often,  after 
laboring  all  day,  he  read  or  wrote  until  eleven  or  twelve 
o'clock  at  night.  He  read  a  great  variety  of  books 
and  newspapers,  but  was  particularly  fond  of  church 
history  and  religious  books  of  a  doctrinal  nature. 

He  wrote  much  for  various  papers,  and  was  a  pains- 
taking writer.  He  usually  wrote  his  articles  two  or 
three  times,  and  the  account  of  his  second  mob  that 
was  written  for  the  Herald  of  Freedom  he  re-wrote 
seven  times.  He  could  write  best  in  the  morning, 
and  frequently  read  and  wrote  half  of  the  forenoon ; 
and  then  worked  and  chored  until  nine  or  ten  at  night, 
to  make  up  lost  time. 

Few  ever  knew  the  strong  desire  that  he  constantly 
felt  for  a  life  devoted  wholly  to  study  and  preaching. 
Living,  as  we  did  in  those  days,  in  a  log  house  with 
only  one  room,  he  had  no  private  place  for  study,  but 
read  or  wrote  in  the  midst  of  the  family.  Yet  neither 
crying  babies  nor  the  noisy  play  of  older  children  dis- 
tracted him.  Often  he  sat,  with  a  look  of  abstraction, 
in  the  midst  of  our  conversation ;  and  we  frequently 
had  to  speak  to  him  several  times  before  we  could  at- 
tract his  attention. 

We  have  several  hundred  of  his  newspaper  articles 
saved  in  scrap-books.  He  preached  altogether  with- 
out notes,  and  never  seemed  to  make  any  especial 
preparation  for  preaching  a  sermon.  I  once  asked  him 
how  long  it  took  him  to  prepare  a  sermon,  and  he 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  285 

replied,  "Sometimes  longer,  sometimes  shorter,  gener- 
ally two  or  three  years.  Of  course  I  do  not  think  of 
it  all  that  time,  but  I  seldom  preach  on  a  subject  when 
it  first  enters  my  mind,  but  let  it  mature.  I  always 
have  several  subjects  on  hand  at  once,  and  when  I  am 
reading  I  retain  whatever  strikes  me  as  pertaining  to 
anyone  of  my  subjects."  "When  do  you  do  most 
of  your  thinking?"  I  asked.  "Whenever  I  can; 
mostly  on  horseback." 

His  education  was  never  finished  ;  he  was  a  student 
to  the  day  of  his  death.  Even  during  his  last  sickness 
he  asked  me  to  return  a  volume  of  Macaulay's  "  His- 
tory of  England  "  that  I  had  borrowed,  so  that  some 
one  could  read  to  him  from  it. 

In  July,  1859,  ne  was  sick  for  some  time  ;  but  in 
September  reports  thus:  "Since  I  recovered  from  my 
sickness  I  have  held  a  series  of  meetings, — one  near 
Atchison,  which  resulted  in  eight  additions ;  one  at 
Big  Springs,  at  which  four  were  added  by  baptism ;  and 
one  at  Pardee,  where  there  was  one  baptized. 

November  i,  1859,  ^e  Northwestern  Christian 
Missionary  Society  was  organized  at  Indianapolis. 
Father  attended  it,  and  remained  preaching  and  col- 
lecting money  until  February.  He  collected  about 
the  same  amount  as  the  previous  year. 

In  March,  1860,  father  and  Bro.  Hutchinson  held 
the  meeting  at  Pardee,  of  which  he  speaks  in  Chapter 
XXIX.,  at  which  there  were  forty-five  additions. 
Father  preached  on  Sunday  night.  The  school-house 
was  closely  seated  -  with  planks,  and  crowded  almost 
to  suffocation,  while  a  crowd  stood  outside  at  doors 
and  windows.  Father  preached  on  the  life  of  Paul, 
although  he  did  not  mention  Paul's  name  until  near 


286  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

the  close  of  the  sermon.  He  spoke  of  him  as  a  tal- 
ented young  nobleman,  brought  up  in  ease  and  luxury 
in  a  great  city,  to  whom  were  open  the  highest  posi- 
tions in  his  nation.  There  were  but  few  Christians  in 
the  land,  and  they  were  poor  and  despised.  But  at 
length  he  felt  the  power  of  God,  and  learned  to  love 
the  Savior.  He  told  how  he  gave  up  wealth  and  posi- 
tion, and  became  poor  and  despised,  and  went  every- 
where preaching  Christ  and  his  mighty  power  to  save. 
He  told  of  his  wonderful  zeal  and  energy,  as  he  trav- 
eled from  country  to  country,  preaching  Christ  to  eager 
thousands.  He  vividly  depicted  the  courage  with 
which  he  endured  trials,  hardships,  and  persecutions. 
Then  he  told  of  his  last  days — a  feeble,  gray-haired 
old  man,  ending  his  days  in  a  prison,  his  few  faithful 
friends  far  away,  enemies  on  every  hand,  and  a  painful, 
violent  death  in  store  for  him.  Did  he  see  the  folly  of 
his  course  ?  And  then  he  quoted  Paul's  triumphant 
words:  "  I  count  all  things  but  loss  for  the  excellency 
of  the  knowledge  of  Jesus  Christ  my  Lord,  for  whom 
I  have  suffered  the  loss  of  all  things.  .  .  .  For  I  am 
now  ready  to  be  offered,  and  the  time  of  my  departure 
is  at  hand.  I  have  fought  a  good  fight,  I  have  finished 
my  course,  I  have  kept  the  faith :  henceforth  there  is 
laid  up  for  me  a  crown  of  righteousness,  which  the 
Lord,  the  righteous  Judge,  shall  give  me  at  that  day, 
and  not  to  me  only,  but  unto  all  them  also  that  love  his 
appearing."  After  speaking  of  the  powerful  effect  of 
Paul's  life  and  teachings,  in  helping  to  transform  the 
world,  he  eloquently  appealed  to  the  young  men  and 
women  to  turn  their  ambition  to  life's  highest  object, 
to  follow  the  example  of  that  grand  old  hero,  and  live 


PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS.  28  / 

a  life  of  true  heroism  in  this  world,  and  win  honor 
and  immortality  in  the  world  to  come. 

The  house  rang  with  that  rousing  old  hymn, 
"Come,  you  sinners,  poor  and  needy,"  and  eleven 
young  men  and  women  rose  to  their  feet  and  confessed 
their  Savior. 

No  sermon  to  which  I  have  ever  listened  has  im- 
pressed itself  so  deeply  on  my  memory  as  that  sermon 
twenty-nine  years  ago. 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 

REMINISCENCES — CONTINUED. 

In  the  spring  of  1860  father  rented  his  farm,  so 
that  he  could  devote  his  whole  time  to  preaching.  He 
built  a  house  in  Pardee,  that  we  might  live  near  school 
and  meeting  until  George  should  be  old  enough  to  do  the 
work  on  the  farm.  There  was  plenty  of  open  prairie 
to  pasture  the  cows,  and  George  and  I  tended  them, 
while  mother  made  cheese  to  help  support  the  family. 

Father  traveled  and  preached  almost  constantly 
that  summer,  sometimes  alone,  sometimes  in  company 
with  Bro.  Hutchinson. 

At  many  of  the  points  at  which  he  organized 
churches,  the  old  members  are  now  either  dead  or 
scattered.  But  Bro.  John  A.  Campbell,  of  Big 
Springs,  where  he  built  up  a  strong  church,  writes  as 
follows  of  his  work  there : 

He  told  me  that  his  first  visit  to  Big  Springs  was  in  May,  1858. 
My  first  recollection  of  him  was  that  he  preached  there  on  the  4th  day 
of  July,  of  that  year,  when  he  organized  the  church  with  twenty-eight 
members,  my  father  (L.  R.  Campbell)  and  C.  M.  Mock  being  ap- 
pointed elders.  His  subject  on  that  occasion  was  the  "  Unity  of  all 
Christians,"  and  he  spoke  with  great  power.  He  again  preached  there 
on  the  29th  day  of  August,  1858,  and  his  subject  was  "  Faith."  On 
that  day  the  first  addition  to  the  church  was  made  by  baptism.  He  con- 
tinued to  preach  for  the  church  about  once  each  month  through  1858-9, 
and  a  part  of  1860.  During  that  time  very  many  were  added,  but  I 
have  no  means  of  knowing  the  number.  In  the  fall  of  1859  he  held  a 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  289 

successful  protracted  meeting,  and  another  in  the  winter  with  Bro.  G. 
W.  Hutchinson.  In  1860,  he  was  at  the  State  meeting  at  Big  Springs, 
at  which  the  ground  plan  of  our  present  co-operative  plan  of  missionary 
work  was  laid.  There  was  also  raised  at  that  meeting  money  to  buy  a 
large  tent,  with  which  Bro.  Butler  was  to  travel  and  preach  as  State 
evangelist.  Again,  in  the  year  1877  or  1878,  he  preached  once  per 
month  at  Big  Springs  and  some  adjacent  points — once  on  the  Waukarusa, 
on  the  subject  of  the  Seventh-day  Sabbath,  out  of  which  grew  a  cor- 
respondence for  a  debate,  but  it  was  not  held,  owing  to  a  failure  to  get 
a  suitable  house. 

In  the  forepart  of  December  past  our  church  held  a  memorial 
service  for  him,  and  many  pleasant  things  about  his  relation  to  dear 
brethren  and  sisters  were  spoken  of.  The  relation  between  him  and 
myself  was  always  very  pleasant,  and  I  delight  to  bear  testimony  to  his 
great  ability  and  grand  life  and  character.  I  regarded  him  as  my 
father  in  the  gospel,  and  he  was  a  source  of  great  help  and  strength 
to  me. 

The  tent  of  which  Bro.  Campbell  speaks  was  made 
by  the  ladies  in  the  Pardee  school-house.  In  size  it 
was  forty  by  sixty  feet,  the  roof  being  shaped  like  the 
roof  of  a  house.  The  second  State  meeting,  and 
many  district  meetings,  were  held  in  it;  and  father 
used  it  in  his  meetings  for  nearly  ten  years,  when  it 
was  finally  torn  up  by  a  storm. 

In  the  fall  of  1860  the  Missionary  Society  wished 
him  to  visit  Indiana  again,  to  stir  up  an  interest,  and 
collect  his  salary.  I  find  no  report  of  his  work  that 
winter,  except  this  item  from  one  of  his  letters: 
"There  have  been  seventeen  additions  at  meetings 
which  I  have  recently  attended— six  at  Brownsburg, 
Hendricks  county,  and  eleven  at  Springville,  Lawrence 
county,  Ind." 

I  have  found  the  note-book  which  he  kept  from 
November,  1860,  to  November,  1861,  in  which  I  find 
this  account:  He  received  $368.50;  traveling  ex- 
penses, $72.55,  leaving  for  his  year's  work,  $295.95. 


PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS. 

That  was  the  year  of  the . "  drouth,"  and  he  apprised 
the  brethren  where  he  preached  of  the  destitution  in 
Kansas.  Dr.  S.  G.  Moore  and  my  uncle,  Prof.  N. 
Dunshee,  of  Pardee,  had  been  appointed  to  receive 
contributions  for  destitute  brethren  ;  and  they  reported 
the  receipt  and  distribution  of  $670.96,  besides  boxes 
of  clothing. 

After  father's  return,  in  March,  1861,  he  traveled 
almost  constantly.  I  have  found,  in  the  note-book 
mentioned  above,  the  time  and  place,  and  either  the 
subject  or  text  of  each  sermon  he  preached  that  year, 
one  hundred  and  fifty-three  in  all.  Here  are  some  of 
the  subjects  named:  "The  Gospel;"  "Christian 
Union;"  "Kings  of  Israel;"  "Noah  and  the  Del- 
uge;" "Types  of  the  Law;"  "For  What  Did  Jesus 
Die?"  "Baptism,  its  Authority  and  Design;"  "From 
Whence  Ami?  and  Whither  Am  I  Going?"  "The 
Material  Results  of  Christianity  ;"  and  "The  Kingdom 
of  Heaven." 

Father  had  spent  all  of  the  money  that  was  due 
him  from  property  sold  in  Iowa,  except  a  thousand 
dollars,  with  which  he  intended  to  pay  his  debts,  and 
finish  paying  for  land  in  Kansas.  While  he  was  in 
Indiana  that  spring  that  amount  was  forwarded  in  a 
draft  to  mother.  The  war  was  just  breaking  out,  and 
by  the  time  she  could  write  to  father  and  receive  his 
instructions  as  to  its  disposal,  the  bank  broke,  and  he 
lost  a  large  part  of  it.  He  had  already  been  running 
in  debt  for  necessary  expenses,  hoping  each  year  that 
his  support  would  be  increased,  and  the  loss  in  the 
bank  threw  him  so  much  in  debt  that  he  felt  it  would 
be  impossible  for  him  to  preach  much  longer. 

In  September,  1861,  he  attended  the  State  meeting 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

in  Prairie  City.  On  Thursday  the  meeting  was  held  in 
an  empty  store-room,  for  the  poles  had  not  yet  been 
cut  to  raise  the  tent.  After  some  preliminary  business 
father  made  a  short  speech,  telling  them  that  he  must 
soon  quit  preaching  for  them.  He  told  them  how 
necessary  it  was  that  churches  should  be  planted  at 
once  in  this  new  State,  and  how  he  had  tried  in  vain  to 
arouse  the  brethren  at  the  East  to  their  responsibility 
in  the  matter,  but  that  he  Avas  at  last  obliged  to  give 
up  and  go  to  work,  like  an  honest  man,  and  pay  his 
debts.  He  told  them  how  he  had  loved  the  work,  and 
how  willingly  he  had  toiled  and  suffered  hardships, 
and  begged  them  to  hold  out  faithfully  and  do  what 
they  could ;  and  when  his  debts  were  paid,  he  would 
return  again  to  the  work.  When  he  closed  his  hearers 
were  nearly  all  in  tears. 

Many  went  long  distances  to  that  meeting,  the 
brethren  and  sisters  from  Emporia  going  in  a  covered 
wagon,  and  camping  out  on  the  road. 

Father  continued  to  preach,  however,  much  of  the 
time  that  winter.  That  part  of  his  farm  that  was  im- 
proved was  rented  for  five  years,  and  he  had  no  money 
to  improve  the  rest.  The  renter  proved  an  indifferent 
farmer,  and  the  rent  scarcely  sufficed  to  pay  the  taxes 
and  winter  the  cattle.  So  father  entered  the  only  pay- 
ing business,  that  of  freighting,  as  he  relates  in  Chap- 
XXXI.  Perhaps  some  may  think  from  reading  that 
chapter  that  he  only  took  one  trip,  but  he  crossed  the 
plains  five  times.  He  first  went  in  the  spring  of  1862, 
in  Bro.  Butcher's  train,  taking  George,  who  was  only 
ten  years  old.  along  to  drive  one  of  his  teams,  because 
he  could  not  afford  to  hire  a  driver.  It  was  a  hard, 
monotonous  life,  driving  all  day  and  camping  at  night 


292  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

through  all  weather ;  but  the  hardest  part  of  it  was  that 
men  and  boys  all  had  to  take  their  turn  standing  guard 
over  their  cattle  at  night.  After  Bro.  Butcher  was 
taken  sick  on  that  first  trip,  father  acted  as  his  boss, 
and  on  all  his  later  trips  he  went  as  wagon-boss  of 
some  large  train  owned  by  Atchison  freighters,  also 
taking  along  two  teams  of  his  own. 

The  wagon-bosses  were  frequently  rough,  overbear- 
ing men,  who  not  only  went  armed,  but  who  often 
treated  their  drivers  tyrannically.  They  not  only 
cowed  the  boys  with  abusive  language,  but  with  fre- 
quent threats  of  whipping,  or  shooting,  which  they 
sometimes  fulfilled. 

Father  never  carried  arms  about  his  person  in  any 
of  his  trips  across  the  plains.  But  there  was  some- 
thing in  his  quiet,  determined  manner  that  enabled  him 
to  rule  even  the  most  headstrong  of  the  wild  young 
fellows  who  usually  drove  the  freighting  teams.  He 
was  once  traveling  along,  for  a  short  time,  in  company 
with  a  train  much  larger  than  his  own,  whose  wagon- 
boss  was  a  big,  burly,  swaggering  fellow,  who  was 
drunk  much  of  the  time.  Each-  train  was  driving 
along  behind  it  such  oxen  as  were  unfit  for  work,  and 
some  of  the  other  cattle  became  accidentally  mixed 
with  father's  drove.  The  boss,  who  was  already  par- 
tially drunk,  had  ridden  on  to  a  ranch  to  get  more 
whisky.  Father  called  on  his  own  boys,  and  the  boys 
of  the  other  train — on  the  plains  the  drivers  were  often 
called  boys,  even  though  they  were  middle  aged  men 
— to  help  separate  them.  But  those  of  the  other 
train  refused  to  help.  They  tried  in  vain  to  separate 
them,  until  they  were  tired  out.  As  they  neared  the 
ranch  father  walked  up  to  the  well  to  get  a  drink,  and 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  293 

there  sat  the  drunken  boss  on  his  horse.  When  he 

saw  father,  he  exclaimed,  with  a  great  oath,  " 

— ,  what  you  driving  my  cattle  off  for  ?" 

"  I  asked  your  boys  to  help  separate  them, "  re- 
plied father,  "but  they  refused,  and  I  and  my  boys 
have  worried  ourselves  out  at  it.  If  you  will  order 
your  boys  to  help  we  will  try  again." 

' ' you,  go  back  and  get  them  cattle  out, 

or  I  '11  send  you  to !" 

Father  looked  him  steadily  in  the  face,  and  said 
quietly,  ' '  I  would  like  to  see  the  irons  you  would  do 
it  with." 

' ' go  back  and  get  them  cattle  out,  or 

I'll  shoot  you  as  sure  as !"  shouted  the  fellow, 

jerking  out  a  revolver  with  a  great  flourish. 

The  frightened  boys  stood  back,  expecting  to  see 
him  shoot,  but  father,  without  moving,  coolly  replied, 
' '  If  you  want  your  cattle  out,  you  will  get  them  out 
yourself;  I  will  do  nothing  more  about  it." 

The  fellow,  cowed  by  father's  cool,  determined 
gaze,  put  his  revolver  back  in  his  belt,  rode  off,  called 
his  men,  and  they  drove  the  cattle  out  themselves. 

In  October,  1862,  father  decided  to  make  a  winter 
trip,  because  he  could  earn  more  money  than  in  the 
summer.  The  owners  of  the  train  intended  wintering 
their  cattle  on  the  buffalo  grass  in  the  Colorado  valleys, 
which  they  found  cheaper  than  wintering  them  on  corn 
in  Kansas.  The  drivers  were  mostly  Ohio  boys,  who 
drove  teams  because  they  wanted  to  reach  the  Pike's 
Peak  gold  mines.  The  oxen  were  a  lot  of  wild  Texas 
steers,  and  it  took  about  half  a  day  to  get  them  yoked 
up  the  first  time,  so  that  they  only  traveled  about 
eight  miles  out  from  Atchison  the  first  day.  George 


2Q4  PERSONAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

did  not  go  that  trip,  but  father  took  him  to  town  to 
help  them  start — because  he  said  that  if  George  was 
only  ten,  he  knew  more  about  handling  wild  oxen  than 
all  those  green  Ohio  boys — and  sent  him  home  the  sec- 
ond day  out.  It  had  been  a  very  pleasant  fall ;  but  I 
never  saw  it  turn  cold  so  suddenly  as  it  did  that  day. 
I  remember  that  I  spent  several  hours  gathering  in 
squashes  and  covering  up  potatoes ;  and  when  I  re- 
turned to  the  house  at  3  p.  M.  every  leaf  on  the  trees 
and  every  flower  in  the  garden  was  frozen  stiff,  point- 
ing straight  out  to  the  southeast.  It  was  the  only  time 
I  ever  saw  a  frozen  flower  garden  in  full  bloom.  It 
sleeted  nearly  all  night,  and  the  Texas  cattle,  frightened 
and  chilled  by  wind  and  sleet,  were  so  wild  that  father 
and  all  the  boys  had  to  herd  them  all  night  to  keep 
them  from  stampeding.  Their  clothes  were  wet  and 
frozen,  for  they  were  not  very  warmly  dressed,  and 
George  said  he  never  suffered  so  much  with  the  cold 
in  his  life  as  he  did  that  night. 

It  was  a  hard  and  stormy  winter,  and  the  Ohio 
boys,  unused  to  such  a  life,  suffered  badly,  many  of 
them  freezing  their  hands  and  feet.  When  they 
reached  Denver  the  cattle  were  taken  to  the  valleys, 
and  father  traded  his  own  cattle  for  mules.  Loading 
his  two  wagons  with  hides,  so  as  to  make  money  both 
ways,  he  and  the  two  boys  who  had  driven  his  teams 
started  for  home.  I  have  heard  him  say  that  he  never 
saw  weather  so  cold,  but  that  he  could  keep  from 
freezing  by  walking.  So  by  dint  of  much  walking  he 
succeeded  in  reaching  home  without  being  frozen. 
Their  wagons  were  so  full  of  hides  that  they  had  to 
sleep  on  the  ground,  and  he  said  that  on  waking  in  the 
morning  he  often  found  himself  buried  in  snow. 


PERSONAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

Wood  was  scarce,  and  they  sometimes  had  to  haul  it 
quite  a  distance  to  build  their  camp  fires  at  night,  and 
it  was  sometimes  so  stormy  that  they  could  scarcely 
cook. 

During  the  journey  one  wagon-load  after  another 
of  returning  Pike's  Peak  adventurers  had  fallen  in  with 
them,  and  kept  together  for  the  sake  of  company  and 
protection  against  the  Indians,  until  they  made  quite 
a  train.  By  common  consent — accordin'  to  the  hu- 
man nature  of  the  thing,  as  they  say  on  the  plains — 
father  came  to  be  considered  the  boss  of  the  train. 
There  was  a  ranch  near  the  road,  kept  by  a  Frenchman, 
who  had  an  Indian  wife.  He  had  grown  rich  selling 
whisky  and  provisions,  and  wood  and  hay.  When  the 
half-frozen  men,  with  their  hungry  teams,  came  by, 
he  charged  them  extravagant  prices ;  if  they  objected 
he  blustered  and  threatened  until  he  usually  scared 
them  into  paying  what  he  asked.  Father  and  his  train 
camped  there  one  cold  night,  and  some  of  the  men 
went  up  to  buy  wood  and  hay ;  but  he  asked  such  high 
prices  for  them  that  they  went  back  and  asked  father 
to  go  up.  He  was  busy,  and  knowing  the  French- 
man's reputation,  told  them  to  go  back  and  tell  him 
that  the  boss  said  he  could  not  pay  such  exorbitant 
prices,  but  to  let  them  have  the  wood  and  hay,  and  he 
would  come  after  awhile  and  pay  a  good  round  price  for 
them.  The  men  returned,  and  told  what  he  said,  but 
the  Frenchman  ordered  them  to  clear  out,  and  threat- 
ened to  shoot  them  if  they  came  back  again  without 
the  money  he  demanded.  He  would  not  even  allow 
them  to  draw  water  from  the  well.  Again  they  begged 
father  to  go  up,  but  he  said  he  was  too  busy,  and  told 
them  to  go  right  back  and  take  the  wood,  hay  and 


296  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

water,  and  if  the  Frenchman  said  anything,  to  tell  him 
that  Pardee  Butler  told  them  to  do  it,  and  he  would 
settle  the  bill.  They  went  back,  the  one  drawing 
water,  the  others  getting  wood  and  hay.  Out  ran  the 
Frenchman,  very  wrathy,  leveling  his  gun  at  them. 
"The  boss  told  us  to  take  them,  and  he'd  settle," 
they  said. 

"Who's  your  boss?"  he  asked  in  surprise. 

"Pardee  Butler." 

' '  Pardee  Butler !  Oh  !  Oh !  Pardee  Butler  ?  Take 
'em!  Take  'em!"  he  exclaimed,  dropping  his  gun 
and  throwing  up  his  hands.  "Oh!  Pardee  Butler! 
Take  'em !  Take  'em  !"  he  continued,  fairly  dancing 
around,  white  with  fright,  and  gesticulating  as  only  a 
Frenchman  can. 

"Why,  what's  the  matter?  He  wont  hurt  you," 
said  one  of  the  boys. 

"Oh!  Pardee  Butler!  He  bad  man.  Oh!  Oh!" 
he  answered,  still  dancing  and  gesticulating. 

"Oh,  no;  he  is  not  a  bad  man;  he  never  hurt 
anybody  in  his  life." 

"Oh,  yees,  Pardee  Butler  one  veree  bad  man! 
He  must  be  one  bad  man,  'cause  they  put  heem  down 
the  river  on  one  raft,  down  in  Kansas.  Pardee  Butler 
must  be  one  veree  bad  man !" 

Father  made  no  more  winter  trips,  but  spent  his 
winters  at  lumbering.  When  he  first  came  to  Kansas 
he  had  bought  eighty  acres  of  timber  land  in  the  river 
bottoms,  in  Missouri,  two  miles  below  Atchison. 
Mills  had  been  erected  along  the  river,  and  lumber  was 
at  last  in  good  demand.  So  he  found  profitable  use 
for  his  teams,  and  large  freighting  wagons,  in  working 
that  timber  into  lumber. 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  297 

He  crossed  the  plains  twice  more  in  the  springs  of 
1863  and  1864. 

The  Indians  often  visited  their  camps,  begging  for 
bread,  or  for  sugar  or  tobacco.  Father  said  that  on 
his  winter  trip  it  made  his  heart  ache  to  see  the  piti- 
able condition  of  the  women  and  children,  chilling 
around  in  the  loose  wigwams  during  the  winter  storms. 
He  often  saw  the  women  out  in  the  snow  gathering  up 
and  carrying  great  loads  of  wood  on  their  shoulders. 
But  he  said  the  most  pitiable  sight  he  ever  saw  was 
little  half-starved,  half-naked  children,  too  small  to 
walk,  creeping  around  under  his  mule's  heels,  eagerly 
eating  the  grains  of  corn  that  they  had  dropped. 

But  the  Indians  were  every  year  growing  more 
restless,  and  often  attacked  the  trains,  to  obtain  pro- 
visions, and  cattle  and  mules.  Father  often  saw  them 
peering  around  the  bluffs,  or  along  the  river  banks, 
watching  his  movements.  But  he  was  very  careful, 
never  allowing  the  boys  or  stock  to  wander  off  alone, 
and  keeping  guards  out  at  night.  Knowing  that  the 
Indians  were  growing  dangerous,  Bro.  Butcher  had 
insisted  on  lending  him  a  rifle  for  his  later  trips.  One 
day  they  were  traveling  along  the  Platte  River  bot- 
toms, the  river  half  a  mile  to  one  side,  the  bluffs  a 
mile  or  two  back  on  the  other.  It  seemed  impossible 
for  anything  to  hide  in  the  low  grass  around  them ; 
but  father  knew  that  here  and  there  in  the  grass  were 
wet-weather  gullies,  deep  enough  for  an  Indian  to  lie 
in ;  and  his  watchful  eye  detected  the  grass  moving, 
occasionally,  here  and  there.  He  halted,  telling  the 
men  there  were  Indians  in  the  grass.  At  first  they 
made  light  of  it,  saying  they  knew  no  Indian  could 
hide  in  that  low  grass.  But  he  told  them  that  he  had 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

been  watching  for  some  time,  and  thought  the  Indians 
were  creeping  up  on  them  from  the  river.  He  took 
Bro.  Butcher's  rifle  out  of  the  wagon,  saying,  "I  am 
going  down  there  to  see  ;  who  will  go  with  me  ?"  But 
none  of  them  offered  to  go,  except  a  boy  of  sixteen, 
who,  seeing  the  rest  would  not  go,  shouldered  another 
gun,  saying,  "  For  shame  !  I  wont  see  the  old  man  go 
alone!"  The  two  went  down  through  the  grass,  and 
when  they  reached  the  river,  they  saw  a  number  of 
Indians  running  away  under  shelter  of  the  bank.  The 
Indians  seldom  attack  determined  men,  who  are  on 
their  guard — unless  they  are  on  the  war-path  with  a 
large  force — and  they  saw  that  father  was  such  a  man, 
and  gave  him  no  more  trouble.  It  was  on  his  last  trip, 
in  1864,  that  the  Indian  raid  occurred,  which  he  men- 
tioned in  Chapter  XXXI.  On  their  return  they  found 
that  armed  bands  of  Indians  were  still  riding  about  the 
country.  One  afternoon,  when  they  were  within  a 
little  over  a  day's  drive  of  Fort  Kearney,  they  saw 
a  band  of  Indians  prowling  about,  first  in  one  direction, 
then  in  another.  The  boys  were  badly  frightened, 
and  wanted  to  run  their  teams  all  night,  in  order  to 
reach  the  Fort.  The  weather  was  hot,  and  the  oxen 
already  tired,  and  father  feared  that  such  a  forced  drive 
would  kill  them.  So  he  ordered  the  boys  to  camp  for 
the  night.  They  kept  out  a  strong  guard,  and  were 
not  attacked ;  but  reached  the  fort  in  safety  the  next 
day. 

The  District  Missionary  Society  of  Northeastern 
Kansas  had  held  two  yearly  meetings  in  the  tent  at 
Pardee,  in  August,  1862, 'and  August,  1863,  just  after 
father's  return  each  year  from  his  summer  trips  across 
the  plains.  In  August,  1864,  soon  after  his  return 


PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS.  299 

from  his  last  trip,  another  district  meeting  was  held  at 
Wolf  Creek,  Doniphan  county,  which  was  the  home 
of  Bro.  Beeler,  and  of  Brethren  Jonathan  and  Nathan 
Springer.  Father  had  held  a  number  of  good  meet- 
ings there,  and  built  up  quite  a  church.  But  when 
the  railroads  went  through  there  the  town  of  Sever- 
ance was  built  up  on  one  side ;  and  Highland,  seven  or 
eight  miles  on  the  other  side,  which  was  already  a 
Presbyterian  stronghold,  received  a  new  impetus.  So 
the  church  at  Wolf  Creek  was  broken  up,  and  one 
was  organized  at  Severance,  and  one  has  since  been 
built  up  at  Highland,  of  which  Bro.  Beeler  is  the  lead- 
ing member. 

Bro.  Jonathan  Springer — who  has  moved  to  Goffs, 
where  he  still  maintains  his  old-time  zeal — relates  an 
incident  which  occurred  a  year  or  two  before  that  dis- 
trict meeting.  Father  was  holding  a  protracted  meet- 
ing, when  there  came  into  the  neighborhood  a  young 
preaching  brother  from  one  of  the  Southern  States, 
running  away  from  the  Union  soldiers.  Upon  learn- 
who  he  was,  father  invited  him  to  preach,  and  they 
continued  preaching  together  for  a  week,  holding  an 
excellent  meeting,  and  father  said  not  a  word  to  him 
about  the  questions  dividing  North  and  South.  Bro. 
Springer  said,  "  I  always  thought  that  Bro.  Butler  was 
a  peculiar,  a  wonderful,  and  a  powerful  preacher." 
Speaking  of  his  ability  to  attract  and  hold  the  atten- 
tion of  an  audience,  Bro.  Springer  said,  "  I  once  heard 
him  begin  a  sermon  with  the  question,  "Are  we  dogs, 
or  are  we  men  ?  ' '  At  the  district  meeting  his  ser- 
mon was  on  his  favorite  theme,  "Christian  Union;" 
and  it  was  two  hours  in  length,  yet  he  held  the  close 
attention  of  the  audience  to  the  end.  Although  he 


3OO  PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS. 

often  preached  on  that  subject,  he  always  had  some- 
thing fresh  to  say.  He  could  not  crowd  all  that  he 
had  to  say  about  it  into  one  sermon.  He  was  con- 
stantly reading  of  the  change  of  sentiment  on  Chris- 
tian union  among  other  denominations,  and  referring 
to  it  in  his  sermons. 

A  few  years  ago  he  preached  a  series  of  discourses 
on  that  subject  at  Pardee,  closing  as  follows:  "The 
Protestant  denominations  will  all  become  one  yet,  not 
by  other  churches  coming  to  any  one  church,  but 
their  differences  will  almost  imperceptibly  disappear, 
and  they  will  all  melt  into  one,  and  no  one  will  be  able 
to  tell  how  it  was  done." 

In  the  spring  of  1865  he  moved  back  to  the  farm, 
and  spent  much  of  the  summer  in  preaching.  For 
the  next  four  years  his  winters  were  spent  in  lumber- 
ing, and  his  summers  in  preaching,  and  improving  his 
farm.  Even  while  lumbering  he  preached  somewhere 
nearly  every  Sunday ;  sometimes  at  home,  sometimes 
in  the  schoolhouse  near  his  timber,  and  sometimes  he 
landed  a  raft  at  Port  William  on  Saturday,  and  went 
across  and  preached  for  the  church  at  Pleasant  Ridge, 
Leavenworth  county.  And  other  Sundays  he  preached 
at  various  points  easy  to  reach  on  Saturday  evening, 
and  return  to  his  work  on  Monday  morning. 

He  rafted  many  of  his  logs  to  Port  William  or 
Leavenworth,  and  usually  helped  to  take  them  down  ; 
and  there  was  much  joking  about  where  he  learned  the 
rafting  business.  It  was  dangerous,  however,  for  rafts 
sometimes  struck  snags,  or  became  unmanageable  in 
the  swift  current,  and  went  to  pieces. 

When  the  Central  Branch  Railroad  was  built,  the 
company  took  corn  of  settlers  in  payment  for  lands, 


PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS.  30 1 

cribbing  it  by  the  road.  Instead  of  shipping  off  the 
corn,  they  shipped  Texas  cattle  to  the  cribs,  to  eat  it 
up.  They  soon  came  to  father  in  great  perplexity. 
Their  cattle  broke  every  fence  they  could  build,  and 
they  did  not  know  what  to  do  with  them.  So  he  told 
them  how  to  build  a  fence  the  cattle  could  not  break, 
and  he  had  a  quantity  of  extra  strong  lumber  sawed 
for  that  purpose.  When  he  called  at  the  railroad  office 
to  receive  pay  for  his  lumber,  the  clerk  paid  him  in 
rolls  of  bills  sealed  up  in  paper,  with  the  value  marked 
on  the  outside.  After  leaving  the  office  he  counted 
his  money,  and  found  that  one  of  the  rolls  that  was 
marked  $100,  really  contained  $1,000.  Returning, 
he  told  the  clerk  he  had  made  a  mistake.  ' '  We  cor- 
rect no  mistakes,"  was  the  gruff  reply.  "Young 
man,  you  are  not  doing  business  for  yourself,  but  for 
the  railroad  company ;  come  here  and  help  me  count 
the  money."  The  label  had  been  misplaced. 

The  greater  part  of  father's  lumber  was  sawed  at 
Winthrop,  now  called  East  Atchison,  and  he  did 
much  hauling  across  the  river  on  the  ice.  His  teams 
were  usually  the  first  to  cross  when  the  river  froze  up, 
and  the  last  to  quit  crossing  in  the  spring ;  but  as  he 
was  a  good  judge  of  the  condition  of  the  ice,  he  never 
lost  a  team.  I  have  heard  my  brother  George  say  that 
four  or  five  times,  when  father  or  himself  had,  by  care- 
ful driving,  crossed  in  safety  with  large  double  teams 
and  heavy  loads,  others,  trying  to  cross  behind  them 
with  light  wagons,  had  broken  thro'ugh,  and  either 
lost  their  teams  or  been  saved  with  difficulty.  One 
spring  the  ice  was  thawing  rapidly,  and  had  become 
quite  rotten ;  but  father  wanted  to  take  one  more 
heavy  load  across,  and  he  drove  it  himself.  It  was 


302  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

drawn  by  several  yoke  of  oxen,  and  their  weight  sunk 
the  ice  so  that  the  water  spouted  through  the  air-holes( 
and  frightened  them.  He  knew  that  the  beaten  track, 
where  the  teams  had  trodden  the  ice  solid,  and  the 
accumulated  mud  had  shaded  it,  had  not  thawed  as 
fast  as  the  surrounding  ice,  and  that  to  allow  his  wagon 
to  swerve  a  foot,  one  way  or  the  other,  was  to  risk 
breaking  in.  He  ran  along  by  the  lead  yoke,  watch- 
ing them  so  closely  that  he  did  not  notice  where  he 
was  walking,  and  several  times  he  stepped  off,  knee- 
deep  in  little  air-holes ;  but  he  took  his  load  safely 
over.  As  he  went  up  the  bank  some  half-drunken 
Germans  in  a  sleigh  dashed  down  on  the  ice  and  broke 
through,  but  were  so  near  the  shore  that  they  easily  got 
out.  But  one  of  father's  wagons  ever  broke  through, 
and  it  was  driven  by  a  careless  hired  man.  Father 
was  ahead  with  another  team.  He  called  back  to  the 
man  to  unhitch  quickly  and  hitch  on  to  the  end  of  the 
tongue,  for  fear  the  team  would  break  through,  ,too, 
and  running  back,  he  put  lumber  under  the  wheels, 
and  they  pulled  the  wagon  out. 

Father  gave  away  a  great  deal  of  wood  over  there. 
In  those  days  coal  was  scarce  and  high,  and,  conse- 
quently, wood  was  high  also.  Many  families  were  so 
glad  to  receive  the  wood  as  a  gift,  that  they  were  will- 
ing to  haul  it  twelve  or  fourteen  miles.  And,  winter 
after  winter,  he  also  kept  two  or  three  poor  families 
supplied  with  wood  from  his  timber  at  home,  allowing 
them  to  come  and  help  themselves. 

Father  and  mother  were  always  very  generous, 
giving  freely  of  money,  wood,  fruits,  vegetables,  milk, 
or  whatever  they  had  to  spare,  to  those  more  needy 
than  themselves.  I  can  not  remember  of  ever  seeing 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  303 

them  charge  any  one  for  a  night's  lodging,  or  turn  any 
one  away. 

When  father  had  anything  to  sell,  he  often  refused 
to  accept  its  market  value,  because  he  thought  it  was 
not  really  worth  the  price.  A  friend  once  noticed  him 
selling  seed  potatoes  much  below  the  market  price, 
and  told  him  that  his  generous  habit  of  selling  to  his 
neighbors  so  cheaply  would  keep  him  poor.  He  re- 
plied that  the  market  price  was  extortionate,  and  that 
his  conscience  would  not  allow  him  to  accept  it. 

In  his  later  years  he  gave  freely  to  help  build  vari- 
ous churches;  and  to  State  and  General  Missionary 
Societies,  and  to  the  many  calls  for  money. 

He  could  never  stand  by  and  order  men  around, 
but  always  took  hold  and  did  the  hardest  of  the  work 
himself;  and  the  excessively  heavy  work  of  logging 
injured  his  health.  He  had  several  severe  spells  of 
nervous  rheumatism,  and  from  that  time  his  right  arm 
was  troubled  with  the  trembling  palsy,  which  grew 
worse  until  his  death.  He  had  not  been  able  to  write 
with  a  pen  for  several  years,  and  his  ' '  Recollections" 
were  all  written  by  holding  a  pencil  in  his  right  hand, 
and  steadying  that  with  the  left  hand. 

Once,  while  he  was  lumbering,  mother  remon- 
strated with  him  for  wearing  himself  out  so  fast.  He 
replied  that  he  saw  so  much  needing  to  be  done,  and 
done  at  once,  he  felt  compelled  to  push  his  work  off 
his  hands  as  fast  as  possible.  If  it  shortened  his  life, 
he  said  it  made  no  difference  to  him,  provided  he  could 
accomplish  more  than  in  a  long  life  of  easy  work.  I 
heard  him  say  once  that  we  ought  to  make  our  life- 
work  of  so  much  importance,  that  neither  cold,  nor 
storm,  nor  any  other  hindrance  should  be  allowed  to 


304  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

interfere  with  the  performance  of  duty.  And  I 
seldom  knew  him  to  stop  for  bad  weather  of  any 
kind. 

In  December,  1865,  I  had  concluded  to  go  to 
school  a  term  at  Manhattan,  and  asked  father  to  take 
me  there,  for  it  was  a  hundred  miles,  and  there  was 
not  a  railroad  in  the  State.  He  sent  an  appointment 
to  hold  a  meeting  there  at  that  time.  The  morning 
that  we  were  to  start  the  thermometer  was  eighteen 
degrees  below  zero,  and  the  wind  blowing  keenly 
from  the  northwest.  But  if  we  postponed  our  journey 
he  would  miss  an  appointment,  and  so  we  started. 
There  was  no  snow,  the  roads  were  rough,  and  we  had 
to  travel  in  a  lumber  wagon,  and  were  three  days  on 
the  way.  I  was  well  wrapped  in  blankets,  and  did  not 
suffer  severely,  but  father,  on  account  of  driving, 
could  not  wrap  up  so  much,  and  had  to  walk  nearly 
half  of  the  time  to  keep  from  freezing.  His  nose  and 
cheeks  were  slightly  frozen  the  second  day,  for  it  did 
not  begin  to  moderate  until  the  third  day. 

He  held  a  good  meeting  of  eight  or  ten  days. 
There  were  about  a  dozen  baptisms,  the  ice  being  cut 
in  the  river  for  that  purpose. 


CHAPTER   XXXIX. 

REMINISCENCES — CONTINUED. 

In  May,  1867,  my  two-year-old  brother,  Ernest,  was 
accidentally  scalded.  He  lingered  a  week,  then  death 
claimed  the  youngest  of  the  flock. 

When  the  Central  Branch  Railroad  was  built  the 
little  town  of  Farmington  was  laid  out,  a  mile  to  the 
northwest  of  father's  house — Pardee  being  two  miles 
to  the  southeast.  Many  of  the  original  members  of 
the  Pardee  Church  had  helped  to  organize  the  Pleasant 
Grove  Church,  six  miles  west.  Father  thought  it 
would  be  wise  to  break  up  at  Pardee ,  and  move  church 
and  village  to  the  railroad  town,  but  some  objected. 
Thinking  that  the  rest  would  soon  follow,  he  left  Par- 
dee,  and  organized  a  church  of  twenty-three  members 
at  Farmington,  October  6,  1867.  Bro.  McCleery  held 
a  successful  meeting  here  the  next  December,  and 
preached  once  a  month  during  the  following  year. 

For  several  years  much  of  father's  time  was  given 
(gratuitously),  in  caring  for  this  church  and  Sunday- 
school,  and  the  church  soon  numbered  a  hundred 
members. 

After  the  war  many  colored  people  came  to  Kan- 
sas, and  a  number  of  them  settled  in  the  neighbor- 
hood. They  had  heard  of  father,  as  a  friend  to  the 

colored  people,  and  some  of  them  wanted  to  work  for 

305 


3O6  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

him.  He  frequently  employed  them,  and  usually 
found  them  faithful  and  efficient.  They  liked  to  work 
for  him  because  he  treated  them  as  he  treated  white 
men.  As  there  were  not  enough  of  them  in  the  coun- 
try places  to  form  churches  of  their  own,  they  attended 
our  Sunday-schools  and  meetings.  We  were  much 
surprised  to  find  that  some  of  our  brethren  objected  to 
colored  children  being  in  the  classes.  One  good  old 
colored  man,  who  had  been  a  member  of  the  church  in 
Missouri,  was  much  respected  by  the  community.  A 
white  brother  requested  our  deacon,  W.  J.  May,  a  son 
of  Caleb  May,  to  ask  this  colored  brother  to  take  a 
back  seat,  and  to  pass  the  bread  and  wine  to  him  last. 
Bro.  May  replied :  "I  shall  do  no  such  thing ;  as 
long  as  I  am  deacon  in  this  church  there  shall  be  no 
respect  of  persons." 

A  colored  man,  who  had  been  a  servant  in  the  fam- 
ily of  one  of  the  governors  of  Virginia,  presented  him- 
self for  membership.  He  was  a  neat,  good-looking 
man,  with  pleasant  manners,  and  had  been  a  member 
of  Col.  Shaw's  colored  regiment,  when  they  so  val- 
iantly stormed  Fort  Wagner.  A  white  sister  borrowed 
a  pair  of  gloves,  when  she  went  up  to  give  him  the 
hand  of  fellowship,  so  that  she  "  would  n't  have  to 
touch  a  nigger's  hand." 

Father  wanted  to  teach  them,  without  giving  un- 
due offense,  their  Christian  duty  to  the  colored  peo- 
ple. He  preached  a  sermon  on  the  parable  of  the 
Good  Samaritan,  telling  how  the  Jews  and  Samaritans 
hated  each  other,  and  how  Jesus  taught  in  that  parable 
that  even  the  most  despised  of  earth's  races  are  our 
neighbors.  He  also  told  the  story  of  Peter's  vision  at 
the  house  of  Simon,  and  how  God  taught  him  not  to 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  3O? 

call  any  man  or  nation  of  men  common  or  unclean,  but 
to  carry  the  gospel  to  all  nations.  The  nearest  that 
he  came  to  modern  times,  in  that  sermon,  was  the  re- 
mark that  the  Jews  despised  the  Samaritans  as  much 
as  the  Americans  despised  the  Africans.  He  left  them 
to  make  their  own  applications  of  the  Bible  teach- 
ings. 

What  an  excitement  it  raised  !  Many  said  the  col- 
ored people  had  to  be  turned  out  of  the  Sunday-school, 
or  they  would  leave  ;  and  some  did  leave.  In  nearly 
all  our  churches  father  had  to  meet  this  prejudice,  but 
he  remained  firm  in  his  position,  that  in  church  and 
Sunday  school  there  should  be  neither  white  nor  black, 
but  all  should  have  equal  rights. 

In  the  spring  of  1869  father  sold  his  timber  land  in 
Missouri,  and  paid  the  last  of  his  debts.  He  had  some 
money  left,  and  the  first  thing  he  did  was  to  go  into  a 
book  store,  and  spend  forty  dollars  for  "Barnes* 
.Notes,"  and  "Motley's  United  Netherlands,  and 
"  History  of  the  Dutch  Republic."  He  remarked  as 
he  did  so,  "I  have  felt  the  need  of  these  books  for 
years,  and  this  is  the  first  money  I  could  spare  for 
them." 

Men  who  had  seen  father  working  with  tireless  en- 
ergy on  his  farm,  or  the  plains,  or  "logging"  in  the 
timber,  sometimes  said:  "He  is  craving  to  get  rich." 

He  has  often  been  misunderstood,  but  in  no  point 
more  than  this.  I  never  knew  a  man  who  cared  less 
for  wealth  than  he.  The  one  all-absorbing  object  of 
his  life  was  to  preach  the  gospel.  But  he  had  also  re- 
solved  to  have  the  means  to  pay  his  debts,  and  to  have 
a  home  for  his  family. 

About  that  time  he  spoke  to  me,  in  substance,  as 


308  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

follows :  The  one  great  anxiety  of  my  life  has 
been  to  preach.  I  had  intended  to  go  to  Bethany, 
and  devote  my  life  entirely  to  preaching.  My  sore 
throat  caused  me  to  give  that  up,  but  going  to  Iowa 
improved  my  health,  and  I  began  to  preach  again. 
When  I  took  my  claim  in  Kansas  it  was  with  the  in- 
tention of  holding  on  to  the  land,  while  I  preached  in 
Illinois,  until  Kansas  should  be  thickly  enough  set- 
tled to  furnish  me  preaching  here.  But  you  know  how 
necessity  has  driven  me,  and  how  preaching  for  a  mea- 
ger salary,  and  neglecting  my  farm,  ran  me  in  debt; 
and  what  a  hard  necessity  has  been  laid  on  me  to  pay 
those  debts,  and  to  improve  my  farm,  so  that  you  and 
your  mother  and  the  boys  can  make  a  living  from  it. 
You  have  no  idea  what  a  sore  and  bitter  trial  it  has 
been  to  me  the  last  six  or  eight  years  to  see  the  old 
churches  going  to  pieces  before  my  eyes,  and  so  many 
opportunities  for  planting  new  churches  being  lost  to 
us.  There  is  only  one  thing  more  I  must  do,  and  then 
I  am  determined  to  give  myself  wholly  to  preaching. 
As  for  myself,  I  would  live  in  a  log  house  all  my  days 
before  I  would  take  from  my  preaching  the  time  neces- 
sary to  earn  and  build  a  better  house.  But  Sybil  has 
been  a  good  and  faithful  wife,  and  has  borne  with  com- 
mendable patience  all  the  trials  of  the  hard  life  through 
which  I  have  led  her  ;  and  it  worries  her  to  entertain  so 
much  company  as  we  have  in  her  log  house.  With  the 
lumber  and  saleable  stock  I  have  on  hand,  I  can  build  it 
without  incurring  any  further  debt.  And  then  I  will 
be  ready  to  preach  without  being  dependent  on  any 
man. 

The  house  was  built ;  but  before  it  was  finished  a. 
series  of  misfortunes  befell  him,  that  threw  him  in  debt 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  309 

nearly  as  badly  as  before.  From  snake-bites,  disease, 
and  accidents,  he  lost  four  or  five  horses,  and  several 
head  of  cattle,  and  the  cholera  killed  nearly  a  thousand 
dollars'  worth  of  his  hogs. 

He  went  to  work  again,  but  somewhat  discouraged, 
for  he  saw  that  his  long-deferred  hope  of  devoting  his 
entire  time  to  study  and  preaching,  could  never  be  re- 
alized. He  was  nearly  sixty,  and  had  broken  his  con- 
stitution by  hard  work,  and  could  not  much  longer  have 
endured  the  incessant  riding  and  preaching  of  a  traveling 
evangelist,  even  could  he  have  been  supported.  The 
boys  were  then  old  enough  to  do  much  of  the  farm 
work,  and  from  that  time  he  preached  more  constantly, 
but  spent  more  or  less  time  at  hard  labor. 

For  several  years  he  was  employed,  for  a  small  sal  - 
ary,  at  monthly  preaching,  by  churches  at  Big  Springs, 
Valley  Falls,  Round  Prairie,  and  other  points. 

In  the  fall  of  1875  he  concluded  to  visit  once  more 
the  churches  for  which  he  had  preached  before  coming 
to  Kansas,  and  bid  farewell  to  his  old  friends.  He  ac- 
cordingly spent  the  following  winter  in  a  preaching 
tour  throughout  Iowa  and  Illinois. 

The  State  Meeting  at  Emporia,  in  1877,  in  his  ab- 
sence, elected  him  President  of  the  Society.  Unable  to 
find  a  State  evangelist  who  would  undertake  the  diffi- 
cult task  of  reviving  the  old  churches  that  had  perished 
— which  he  thought  was  the  work  most  needed  at  that 
time — he  took  the  field  himself.  At  the  State  meeting 
held  at  Yates  Center  the  next  year,  he  made  the  follow- 
ing report:  "Time  spent,  five  months;  sermons 
preached,  one  hundred  and  fifty ;  churches  organized, 
two;  compensation  received,  $186.36."  He  also  re- 
vived many  scattered  churches  and  Sunday-schools, 


3IO  PERSONAL     RECOLLECTIONS. 

and  obtained  regular  preaching  for  some  of  them.  He 
was  greatly  worried  over  the  churches  of  this  part  of 
the  State.  They  had  been  much  weakened,  and  some 
of  them  nearly  broken  up  by  the  tide  of  emigration 
that  set  into  the  southern  and  western  counties.  At- 
tempts at  co-operative  State  and  district  work  were  im- 
peded by  conservative  papers,  which  prejudiced  the 
brethren  against  missionary  societies,  and  hireling  pas- 
tors. He  spent  much  time,  both  with  tongue  and  pen, 
in  answering  these  sophistries,  and  teaching  the 
churches  their  duties.  Many  of  the  churches  were 
really  too  poor  to  support  regular  preaching,  and  many 
that  were  able,  thought  themselves  unable  to  do  so. 
Yet  someone  must  care  for  them,  or  they  would  per- 
ish. He  resolved  for  the  rest  of  his  life  to  preach, 
without  remuneration,  where  such  preaching  was 
most  needed.  And  so  the  last  eight  or  nine  years  of  his 
life  were  spent  in  preaching  on  Saturdays  and  Sundays  for 
weak  churches,  and  the  remainder  of  the  time  in  working 
and  writing.  If  a  church  was  building  a  meeting  house, 
and  felt  unable  to  support  a  preacher  while  doing  so, 
he  preached  for  it  until  it  was  built.  If  a  church  had 
already  built,  and  felt  oppressed  with  debt,  he  preached 
for  it  until  the  debt  was  paid.  If,  from  any  cause,  a 
church  was  weak  or  disorderly,  he  preached  for  it  until 
it  was  again  in  good  order.  Then  he  said  to  the 
brethren:  (t  I  have  helped  you  on  your  feet,  now  raise 
the  money  and  hire  some  one  else  to  preach  for  you, 
and  let  me  go  and  help  some  other  needy  church." 

Mr.  Hastings  and  I  were  married  in  1870,  and  had 
settled  at  Farmington.  From  that  time  Mr.  Hastings 
had  taken  much  of  the  care  of  the  Farmington  church. 
The  church  at  Pardee  had  revived,  and  had  been  doing 


PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS.  311 

well  under  the  care  of  Prof.  N.  Dunshee ;  and,  later  on, 
by  the  assistance  of  Prof.  J.  M.  Reid,  and  of  Mr. 
Hastings.  But,  about  six  years  ago,  being  left  without 
a  leader,  they  begged  father  to  take  charge  of  them, 
although  they  were  unable  to  offer  him  much  remunera- 
tion. He  told  them  that  it  would  cost  them  nothing, 
so  far  as  he  was  concerned  ;  but  that,  if  he  took  charge 
of  them,  they  must  promise  to  support  the  Sunday- 
school  liberally,  and  to  build  a  church.  He,  and  his 
family,  therefore,  changed  their  membership  from 
Farmington  back  to  Pardee,  where  he  was  elected 
elder — for  he  believed  that  every  pastor  of  a  church 
should  be  one  of  its  elders — and  he  preached  for  them 
five  years.  He  not  only  gave  largely  of  his  means  to 
build  the  church,  but  spent  the  whole  summer  in  col- 
lecting the  money,  and  overseeing  the  building  of  the 
house.  He  looked  after  the  buying  of  the  materials, 
and  sent  his  teams  to  do  much  of  the  hauling,  and 
never  stopped  until  the  building  was  furnished,  the  in- 
surance paid,  and  his  own  hands  had  put  the  stoves  in 
place. 

About  a  year  before  his  death,  however,  owing  to 
disagreements  about  the  manner  of  conducting  the 
Sunday-school,  father  resigned  his  eldership,  and 
preached  at  other  points  until  his  death. 

But  his  work  for  others  was  not  confined  to  preach- 
ing, or  church  work.  He  had  never  tried  to  make  a 
large  town  of  either  Farmington  or  Pardee.  He  knew  too 
well  the  perils  of  the  city.  When  he  helped  to  lay  out 
Pardee  he  made  it  a  part  of  the  charter  that  if  liquor 
should  ever  be  sold  on  any  lot  of  the  town  the  deed  to 
that  lot  should  be  forfeited.  His  idea  was  to  have  a 
small  village,  with  a  good  church  and  school,  as  the 


312  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

center  of  a  moral  and  intelligent  farming  commu- 
nity. He  took  great  interest  in  schools,  Sunday- 
schools,  literary  societies,  and  temperance  work  ;  in 
everything,  in  fact,  which  tended  to  the  moral  and  in- 
tellectual improvement  of  the  young,  or  to  the  well- 
being  of  society  in  general. 

He  spent  much  time  in  writing  and  lecturing  on 
temperance,  both  before  and  after  the  passage  of  the 
Prohibitory  Amendment.  His  articles  in  the  papers 
denouncing  the  violation  of  the  prohibitory  law  as  re- 
bellion against  the  Constitution,  and  all  the  sympa- 
thizers with  the  law-breakers,  as  rebels,  stirred  up  such 
an  excitement  that  when  he  went  to  Atchison  he  could 
scarcely  walk  the  streets  on  account  of  the  people,  both 
friends  and  opponents,  who  stopped  him  on  every 
turn,  to  talk  of  prohibition.  The  Germans  all  wanted 
to  discuss  the  matter  with  him  ;  but  one  of  the  leading 
Germans  said  to  him  one  day,  "You  must  not  expect 
us  old  Germans,  who  have  brought  our  habits  from 
the  old  country,  to  change  ;  but  go  ahead,  Mr.  Butler ! 
Go  ahead  !  The  young  men  are  with  you." 

Father  was  sometimes  accused  of  "dabbling  in 
politics."  If  that  means  that  he  was  an  office-seeker, 
the  charge  is  false.  Though  often  urged  by  his  friends 
to  run  for  office,  he  invariably  refused,  telling  them 
that  he  considered  the  office  of  a  Christian  preacher  the 
highest  office  on  earth.  But  he  did  think  it  his  duty 
to  attend  elections  and  primary  meetings,  and  work 
against  the  whisky  ring.  He  often  spent  much  time, 
in  the  fall,  speaking  and  writing  to  secure  the  election 
of  temperance  men  for  county  officers.  The  final  ef- 
fort by  which  he  succeeded  in  arousing  a  public  senti- 
ment strong  enough  to  compel  the  county  officers  to 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  313 

close  the  saloons,  was  a  stirring  speech  he  made  at  a 
temperance  meeting  in  Atchison,  in  the  spring  of  1885, 

Some  have  thought  that  father  was  hard-hearted. 
Plain-spoken  he  certainly  was,  and  sometimes  harsh 
in  dealing  with  those  whom  he  thought  to  be  doing 
wrong.  He  was  so  thoroughly  in  earnest  that  when  he 
thought  a  certain  way  right  or  wrong,  it  was  hard  for 
him  to  understand  that  some  other  way  might  be 
equally  right  or  wrong. 

Naturally  high-tempered,  with  a  very  excitable, 
nervous  organization,  it  was  often  a  matter  of  wonder 
to  me  to  see  how  much  self-control  he  exercised,  under 
irritating  circumstances.  He  sometimes  lost  his  self- 
control,  and  said  things  that  would  better  have  been 
left  unsaid  ;  but  when  he  saw  that  he  had  done  so  he 
was  ready  to  beg  pardon  for  the  offense.  But  he  was 
kind-hearted  and  forgiving,  and  ready  to  forget  injuries 
done  to  him. 

No  matter  how  harshly  he  might  speak  of  an  oppo- 
nent, or  wrong-doer,  he  would  often  turn  right  around 
and  do  him  a  kindness. 

One  of  the  men  who  helped  to  raft  him  wrote  to 
him  three  or  four  years  ago,  saying  that  he  was  writ- 
ing an  account  of  the  Kansas  troubles,  and  asking  him 
for  some  information  on  points  that  he  had  forgotten. 
Father  readily  complied  with  his  request,  telling  him 
that  he  freely  forgave  him,  and  all  the  rest  of  his  old- 
time  enemies. 

Father  was  always  ready  to  help  the  poor,  the  op- 
pressed, or  unfortunate.  It  was  that  spirit  of  sympathy  for 
the  weaker  party  that  led  him  to  side  with  Horace  Greely 
in  1872,  because  he  thought  the  Republicans  were  too 
hard  on  the  conquered  Southerners.  But  when  he 


314  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

heard  of  the  widespread  Ku-Klux  outrages,  he  concluded 
that  he  had  been  mistaken,  and  returned  heartily  to 
the  Republican  party. 

I  heard  a  neighbor  say  a  few  years  ago  :  "  If  any 
one  needs  help,  just  go  to  Bro.  Butler.  I  never  heard 
of  him  refusing  to  help  anybody  that  was  in  trouble, 
no  matter  how  much  time  or  trouble  it  cost  him." 

Another  neighbor  had  his  house  burned.  He  was 
old  and  feeble,  and  unable  to  rebuild.  Other  neigh- 
bors thought  they  had  done  their  part  when  they  raised 
a  subscription  to  build  him  a  new  house.  But  cold 
weather  was  coming  on,  necessitating  haste.  Father, 
not  content  with  giving  money,  looked  after  buying 
materials,  and  putting  up  the  building ;  sent  his  teams 
to  do  the  hauling ;  and,  because  the  ground  was  freez- 
ing up,  worked  until  late  at  night,  digging  out  sand  to 
plaster  it.  And  this  was  but  one  of  the  many  instances 
of  his  practical  kind-heartedness. 

He  attended  the  State  Meeting  at  Hutchinson  about 
a  year  before  his  death,  where  he  had  been  invited  to 
deliver  a  historical  address,  sketching  his  own  life  and 
work,  and  the  history  of  our  churches  in  Kansas.  He 
was  urgently  requested  to  publish  it,  and  from  that  cir- 
cumstance came  the  publication,  in  the  Christian  Stand- 
ard, £>f  his  "Recollections." 

Bro.  F.  M.  Rains  said  of  that  address,  "That 
was  the  grandest  speech  ever  delivered  on  Kansas 
soil." 

The  Hutchinson  Daily  News  spoke  of  it  as  follows : 

"  The  address  was  a  happy  blending  of  church  history,  and  personal 
reminiscence,  full  of  fact,  humor  and  pathos,  and,  most  of  all,  devotion 
to  freedom,  morality,  temperance,  and  godliness.  Few  people  of  to- 
day are  able  to  appreciate  the  privations,  and  sacrifices,  and  dangers,  with 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  315 

which  the  pioneer  was  beset,  and  these  dangers  came  with  special  near- 
ness to  the  man  whose  mission,  courage  and  conscience  made  him  the 
open  and  avowed  foe  of  all  sorts  of  wickedness.  The  house  was  packed 
with  intense  listeners,  and  from  beginning  to  end  he  held  the  great  audi- 
ence in  close  attention,  and  when  he  finished,  the  hope  that  grand  old 
Pardee  Butler  might  live  a  hundred  years  was  the  unexpressed  wish 
of  all." 

Father  was  always  fluent  in  prayer,  and  his  peti- 
tions earnest  and  timely  ;  but  in  the  last  year  or  two  of 
his  life  his  prayers  seemed  to  grow  more  fervent  and 
impressive.  Mrs.  Hendryx,  of  Wichita,  writing  to  me 
since  his  death,  speaks  thus  of  a  prayer  offered  by  him 
at  the  Hutchinson  Convention:  "Never,  while  con- 
sciousness shall  last,  will  I  forget  the  ring  of  your 
father's  voice  in  prayer,  at  Hutchinson.  I  asked, 
'  Who  is  that  aged  veteran  ?  he  seems  almost  inspired.' 
And  they  told  me  it  was  Pardee  Butler." 

The  earnestness  and  appropriateness  of  his  prayers 
were  most  noticeable  on  several  funeral  occasions,  and 
numbers  spoke  of  being  affected  by  them,  particularly 
at  Bro.  Locker's  funeral. 

He  preached  his  last  sermon  at  North  Cedar,  a  week 
and  a  half  before  his  accident.  The  following  Satur- 
day, September  15,  he  attended  Bro.  Locker's  funeral, 
The  next  day  he  attended  Bro.  Parker's  meeting  at 
Pleasant  Grove,  where  he  presided  at  the  Lord's  table. 

He  had  several  appointments  ahead  at  the  time  he 
was  hurt.  One  of  these  was  to  preach  the  funeral  of 
his  old  friend,  Caleb  May,  who  had  died  in  Florida, 
August  27.  His  children  in  Florida  had  sent  a  request 
to  his  son,  E.  E.  May,  of  Farmington,  that  father 
should  preach  a  memorial  sermon  at  Pardee. 

Father  had  not  done  any  heavy  work  for  two  years, 
but  he  still  did  much  light  work,  and  choring,  although 


3l6  PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS. 

his  health  was  gradually  failing,  milking  eight  or  ten 
cows  a  day,  and  driving  a  young  team  from  ten  to 
twenty  miles  to  his  appointments,  almost  every  Sun- 
day, seldom  stopping  for  bad  weather. 

It  was  reported  that  he  was  thrown  from  a  colt  at 
the  time  he  was  hurt.  My  brothers  wish  that  report 
corrected.  They  think  he  never  was  thrown  from  a 
horse  in  his  life.  They  had  seen  him  break  many 
colts,  and  had  never  seen  him  thrown.  He  had  been 
using  the  most  spirited  colt  on  the  place  for  his  riding 
horse  all  summer;  but  that  day,  September  19,  it  was 
in  a  distant  pasture,  and  finding  my  brother  Charley's 
colt  in  the  stable,  he  thought  he  would  ride  it  to  the 
post-office.  It  would  not  stand  for  him  to  mount,  and 
he  put  the  halter  around  a  post,  holding  the  end  in  his 
hand.  As  he  mounted  the  saddle  the  colt  jerked  both 
halter  and  bridle  from  his  hand  and  trotted  off  Un- 
able to  reach  the  bridle  he  hastily  dismounted.  As  he 
swung  his  right  foot  around  to  the  ground  the  colt 
kicked  it,  crushing  the  ankle  joint.  He  quietly  called 
mother ;  and  Brother  May,  who  happened  to  be  passing, 
helped  him  into  the  house,  and  sent  for  a  surgeon. 

We  feared  no  worse  result  at  the  first  than  a  crippled 
ankle.  He  said  to  Bro.  White,  who  visited  him  a  few 
days  after  he  was  hurt,  "  Oh,  I  will  get  up  all  right;  a 
Butler  never  was  conquered,  you  know.  My  only  con- 
cern is  that  I  shall  not  become  a  permanent  cripple." 

The  first  week  he  was  hopeful,  though  suffering 
much  pain.  The  second  week  he  was  delirious,  with 
high  fever.  Then  he  was  prostrated  witha  severe  ner- 
vous chill — his  already  over-wrought  nervous  system 
was  exhausted  by  pain.  From  that  time  he  lay  in  an 
unconscious  stupor  the  greater  part  of  the  time.  He 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  3 1/ 

passed  quietly  away  at  half-past  three  A.   M.,  October 
19,  1888,  at  the  age  of  seventy-two. 

His  funeral  took  place  the  following  day  in  the 
church  at  Pardee.  The  services  were  conducted  by 
Elders  John  Boggs,  of  Clyde,  and  J.  B.  McCleery,  of 
Fort  Leavenworth.  The  house  was  full,  notwithstand- 
ing it  was  a  stormy  day,  raining  continuously  from 
morning  until  night.  Word  had  been  sent  to  all  the 
churches  in  this  and  adjacent  counties,  and  hundreds 
who  were  preparing  to  attend  the  funeral  were  disap- 
pointed by  the  inclement  weather. 


CHAPTER  XL. 

PRO-SLAVERY  HINDRANCES. 
BY  ELDER  JOHN  BOGGS. 

Although  our  dear  departed  brother,  Elder  Pardee 
Butler,  was  never  classed  with  the  Garrisonian  Aboli- 
tionists, he  began  his  ministerial  life  when  the  demands 
of  the  South  were  being  felt  in  all  the  North,  both  in 
church  and  State.  If  slavery  could  not  be  advocated  by 
the  Northern  conscience  it  must  at  least  be  ignored  by 
all  candidates  for  popular  favor.  It  had  divided  some  of 
the  most  popular  religious  denominations ;  and  was  the 
most  exciting  subject  of  discussion  known  to  the  religi- 
ous world  at  the  middle  of  the  present  century.  Among 
the  Disciples  of  Christ  the  slavery  question  was  pecu- 
liarly perplexing,  as  there  was  a  large  per  cent,  of  the 
membership  who  were  actual  slaveholders,  and  the 
leaders  among  us,  although  publicly  committed  against 
1 '  slavery  in  the  abstract, "  were  endeavoring  to  soften  the 
hard  features  of  slavery  in  the  Southern  States  by 
arguing  that  the  relation  of  master  and  slave  was  not 
sinful  per  se,  as  it  was  recognized  and  regulated  both 
in  the  Jewish  and  Christian  scriptures. 

Bro.  Butler  was  ordained  as  a  minister  of  the  gos- 
pel of  Christ,  among  the  Disciples,  at  Sullivan,  Ohio, 
some  time  in  the  year  1844,  by  A.  B.  Green  and  J.  H. 

Jones,  at  that  time  two  of  the  most  efficient  evangelists  in 

318 


PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS.  319 

Northern  Ohio  He  had  a  good  conscience,  which 
passed  judgment  upon  his  actions  in  accordance  with 
the  great  law  of  love  inculcated  by  the  Lord  himself 
and  his  apostles,  and  he  did  not  allow  the  application 
of  any  "  hot  iron  "  so  as  to  sear  it.  Although  he  did 
not  come  in  direct  antagonism  with  the  pro-slavery 
power  while  he  labored  in  the  gospel  ministry  east  of 
the  Missouri  River,  yet  it  is  evident  that  the  slavery 
question  was  a  most  important  factor  in  making  up 
his  decision  to  leave  his  field  of  labor  in  the  Military 
Tract  in  Illinois,  where  he  gave  up  present  usefulness 
and  ministerial  blessedness  for  a  prospective  mission- 
ary field  and  a  humble  home  for  his  family.  He  had 
spent  four  years  there  in  active  ministerial  labor ;  and 
in  the  second  number  of  his  " Personal  Recollections" 
he  calls  them  "the  golden  days  of  my  life!" 

That  the  hand  of  God  directed  the  footsteps  of 
Pardee  Butler  to  Kansas  just  at  the  time  he  went  there, 
and  to  the  place  where  he  took  a  homestead  and  im- 
proved it,  and  lived  on  it  with  his  family  fora  third  of  a 
century,  no  one  who  believes  in  an  overruling  provi- 
dence can  for  a  moment  doubt.  At  the  risk  of  his 
life,  and  at  the  cost  of  great  privation  in  his  own  per- 
son, and  that  of  his  wife  and  children,  he  unfurled  the 
blood-stained  banner  of  the  cross,  and  never  allowed 
it  to  trail  beneath  his  feet  through  the  long  years  of 
"  border  ruffianism,"  and  the  dark  days  of  detraction 
and  misrepresentation.  He  was  the  man  for  the  hour ; 
while  on  the  one  hand  he  was  not  forgetful  of  the  ob- 
ligations resting  upon  him  to  his  family— he  laid  the 
foundation  for  a  happy  home — on  the  other  hand,  he 
was  always  ready,  both  in  season  and  out  of  season,  at 
home  and  abroad,  to  preach  the  unsearchable  riches  of 


320  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

Jesus  Christ  to  a  lost  and  dying  world.  To  him  more 
than  to  any  other  human  instrumentality  is  the  brother- 
hood of  Christ's  disciples  indebted  for  the  early  intro- 
duction of  Christianity  in  the  now  grand  State  of  Kan- 
sas ;  and  his  name  will  be  honorably  and  lovingly  re- 
membered by  all  the  good  and  the  true,  who  shall 
learn  of  his  unselfish  life  and  his  untiring  devotion  to 
the  cause  of  the  Master. 

In  the  summer  of  1858,  after  he  had  been  in  the 
new  Territory  over  three  years,  Bro.  Butler,  in  the 
Luminary,  writes  as  follows:  "To  teach,  discipline, 
and  perfect  the  churches  we  have  already  organized  ; 
to  gather  into  churches  the  lost  sheep  of  the  house  of 
Israel,  scattered  over  this  great  wilderness  of  sin  ;  to 
watch  over  those  who  are  still  purposing  to  tempt  its 
dangers,  and  to  lay  broad  and  deep  the  foundations  of  a 
future  operation  and  co-operation,  that  shall  ultimate 
in  spreading  the  gospel  from  pole  to  pole,  and  across 
the  great  sea  to  the  farthest  domicile  of  man — this  is 
the  purpose  which  we  set  before  us."  This  brief  quo- 
tation shows  the  broadness  and  completeness  of  the 
work,  as  contemplated  by  him,  and  which  is  now  go- 
ing forward  to  its  accomplishment  as  never  before ;  and 
to  his  almost  alone  labors  at  first  the  work  in  Kansas 
can  be  legitimately  traced. 

During  this  year  a  Territorial  Board  was  formed,  and 
Bro.  Butler  was  appointed  as  their  evangelist;  and  a 
correspondence  was  had  between  him  and  the  corre- 
sponding secretary  of  the  General  Missionary  Society 
in  reference  to  affording  aid  to  the  Kansas  Board  to  help 
sustain  him  in  his  evangelical  labors.  It  was  conducted 
in  the  most  friendly  manner  and  in  a  true  Christian  spirit, 
until  the  slavery  question  came  to  the  front  and  pre- 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  321 

vented  the  accomplishment  of  what  was  hoped  for  on 
the  one  hand,  and  contemplated  on  the  other.  The 
following  extract  from  Bro.  Butler's  third  letter  will 
present  the  issue  in  the  briefest  manner  possible : 

DEAR  SIR  : — You  say  in  letter  before  me,  "  It  must,  therefore,  be 
distinctly  understood  that  if  we  embark  in  a  missionary  enterprise  in 
Kansas,  this  question  of  slavery  and  anti-slavery  must  be  ignored."  I 
respond :  This  reformation  is  pledged  before  heaven  and  earth,  and 
under  covenants  the  most  solemn  and  binding  into  which  men  can  en- 
ter, to  guarantee  freedom  of  thought  and  speech  to  our  brotherhood — 
not  indeed  on  subjects  purely  abstract,  speculative  and  inoperative,  but 
on  Bible  questions — questions  which  involve  the  well-being  of  human- 
ity. This  matter  of  slavery  is  a  Bible  question — a  question  of  justice 
between  man  and  man — of  mercy  and  humanity.  It  is  what  Jesus 
would  call  one  of  the  weightier  matters  of  the  law,  and  demands, 
therefore,  a  large  place  in  our  investigations. 

The  brethren  here  in  Kansas  have  made  no  such  stipulations  with 
me  They  have  left  me  to  my  own  discretion  in  preaching  the  gospel 
to  sinners,  and  teaching  the  saints  according  to  the  Bible.  They  have 
shown  themselves  too  magnanimous  to  impose  on  my  conscience  a  re- 
striction which  their  own  manhood  would  forbid,  under  similar  circum- 
stances, that  they  should  suffer  to  be  imposed  on  themselves. 

For  myself,  I  will  be  no  party,  now  or  hereafter,  to  such  an  ar- 
rangement as  that  contemplated  in  your  letter  now  before  me.  I  would 
not  make  this  "  Reformation  of  the  nineteenth  century "  a  withered 
and  blasted  trunk,  scattered  by  the  lightnings  of  heaven,  because  it 
took  part  with  the  rich  and  powerful  against  the  poor  and  oppressed, 
and  because  we  have  been  recreant  to  those  maxims  of  free  discussion 
which  we  have  so  ostentatiously  heralded  to  the  world  as  our  cherished 
principles. 

In  explanation  of  the  first  letter  received  by  Bro. 
Butler  from  the  corresponding  secretary,  a  second  one 
was  sent,  from  which  it  is  necessary  to  make  the  fol- 
lowing extracts: 

I  reply,  that  nothing  has  been  said  against  teaching  a  master  his 
duties  according  to  the  Bible,  nor  (what  is  just  as  important)  against 
teaching  servants  their  duties  to  their  masters,  according  to  the  Bible — 


322  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

according  to  the  instructions  given  to  evangelists — I.  Tim.  vi.  1-4.  My 
remarks,  as  the  whole  letter  will  show,  had  reference  to  the  question  of 
slavery  in  Kansas.  The  forms  it  takes  on  there  are  very  different  from 
the  duties  masters  owe  their  servants  according  to  the  Bible.  It  is 
whether  a  slaveholder  is  necessarily  a  sinner,  unfit  for  membership  in 
the  Christian  Church — a  blood-thirsty  oppressor,  whose  money  is  the 
"price  of  blood,"  and  would  "pollute"  the  treasury  of  the  Lord,  etc. 
etc.  And,  on  the  other  hand,  whether  American  slavery  is  a  divine 
institution,  the  perfection  of  society  for  the  African  race,  and  essential 
to  their  happiness — while  all  Abolitionists  are  fit  only  for  the  mad- 
house or  the  penitentiary.  These  and  such  like  are  the  forms  the  ques- 
tion of  slavery  assumes  in  Kansas,  as  well  as  in  many  of  the  free  States, 
where  there  are  no  "masters  and  servants"  in  that  sense  to  be  taught 
their  duties,  in  reference  to  which  it  was  said  the  question  must  be  en- 
tirely ignored.  And  we  can  not  consent  that  on  one  side  or  the  other 
such  pleas  shall  be  made  under  the  sanction  of  the  American  Christian 
Missionary  Society. 

I  did  not  then,  not  do  I  now,  suppose  that  if  you  were  employed 
by  the  A.  C.  M.  S.  to  preach  the  gospel  in  Kansas,  it  would  fall  to  your 
lot  to  furnish  instructions  to  many  masters  and  servants.  If  in  any 
churches  you  may  raise  up  in  Kansas — evidently  destined  to  be  free — 
you  find  masters  and  slaves,  of  course  it  will  be  your  duty  to  instruct 
them  both  "  according  to  the  Bible."  But  to  furnish  such  instruction, 
and  to  go  through  Kansas  lecturing  on  anti-slavery,  or  mixing  up  any 
pro-slavery  or  any  anti-slavery  theories  and  dogmas  with  the  gospel,  or 
to  plant  churches  with  the  express  understanding  that  no  "master  ' 
shall  be  allowed  to  have  membership  in  it,  are  very  different  things. 
And  I  had  this  very  matter  in  view  when  I  wrote  to  you,  for  I  had  some- 
how heard  that  the  church  of  which  you  were  a  member  was  about  to 
take  just  such  a  stand,  and  I  wanted  to  have  it  distinctly  understood 
that  so  far  as  action  under  the  direction  of  the  A.  C.  M.  S.  was  con- 
cerned, all  such  ultraisms  must  be  ignored You  felt 

anxious  to  have  help  to  preach  the  gospel  in  Kansas.  I  felt  anxious  to 
assist  you.  I  saw  danger  in  the  way,  growing  out  of  the  fact  that  I 
represent  a  society  whose  membership  is  in  the  South  as  well  as  in  the 
North,  and  that  some  factious  ultraists  are  constantly  on  the  watch  to 
sow  the  seeds  of  discord.  I  knew  the  state  of  things  in  Kansas  as 
bearing  on  the  slavery  question.  I  knew  something,  too,  of  your  treat- 
ment there,  and  of  your  feelings.  I  saw  that  if  you  were  employed  to 
preach  there,  an  effort  would  be  made  to  herald  it,  as  in  Bro.  Beardslee's 
case,  as  an  anti-slavery  triumph.  This  would  be  unjust  to  us.  And  as 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  323 

the  practical  question  of  master  and  slave  does  not  exist  there  to  any 
extent,  I  spoke  of  ignoring  the  question  altogether.  If  you  still  insist 
on  the  right  to  urge  that  question,  and  take  part  in  the  controversy  rag- 
ing in  Kansas,  under  the  patronage  of  the  A.  C.  M.  S.,  I  have  only  to 
say  it  is  outside  the  objects  contemplated  in  our  constitution.  But  if 
you  wish  simply  to  preach  the  gospel  and  instruct  converts  in  a  knowl- 
edge of  Christian  duties,  <; according  to  the  Scriptures,"  there  was  cer- 
tainly no  occasion  for  your  second  letter  to  be  written. 

To  the  foregoing  a  rejoinder  was  written  by  Bro. 
Butler,  which  closed  the  correspondence  with  the  A. 
C.  M.  S.,  and  from  which  the  following  extracts  are 
taken,  that  the  readers  may  understand  his  position 
correctly : 

I  reply,  I.  In  your  former  letter  I  find  no  reference  to  the  forms 
the  agitation  of  this  question  assumes  in  Kansas.  I  presume  you  had 
not  a  copy  of  that  letter  before  you  when  you  wrote  this  one.  But  you 
do  allude  to  "  forms "  the  agitation  of  this  question  had  assumed  in 
Cincinnati,  and  in  reference  to  Bro.  Beardslee  and  the  Jamaica  mission. 
I  was  also  instructed  that  "  our  missionaries  "  must  not  be  ensnared  into 
such  utterances  as  the  Luminary  can  publish  to  the  world,  to  add  fuel  to 
the  flame.  The  utterances  against  which  I  was  guarded  seemed  to  be 
in  Cincinnati  rather  than  in  Kansas.  I  had  already  published  a  piece 
indicative  of  my  views  in  the  Northwestern  Christian  Magazine,  and  that 
appeared  to  be  the  obnoxious  "  utterance."  2.  You  are  misinformed 
relative  to  the  "forms"  the  agitation  of  this  question  assumes  in  Kansas. 
The  question,  Shall  slaveholders  be  received  as  church  members  ?  has 
hardly  been  debated  at  all.  3.  Neither  myself  nor  any  person  associated 
with  me  has  at  time  proposed  to  organize  a  church  to  exclude  slave- 
holders. 4.  Slaveholders  have  been  members  of  our  churches  from  the 
first  day  until  now.  How,  then,  could  I  understand  you  as  referring  to 
anything  else  than  to  my  own  published  Cincinnati  utterances  ? 

As  respects  slavery,  the  whole  power  of  the  master  and  the  obliga- 
tion of  the  servant  is  found  in  the  proper  meaning  of  the  words  of  such 
precepts  as  these  "  Masters,  render  unto  your  servants  that  which  is  just 
and  equal;"  "servants,  obey  your  masters,"  etc.  All  within  such  limits 
is  the  doctrine  which  is  according  to  godliness — all  beyond,  whether  on 
the  part  of  the  master  or  the  slave,  and  which  is  attempted  to  be  foisted 
into  the  church  as  a  part  of  the  apostolic  doctrine,  is  schismatical,  and 


324  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

essentially  fills  up  the  picture  drawn  by  Paul :  ««  If  any  man  teach  other- 
wise, and  consent  not  to  wholesome  words,  even  the  words  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  and  to  the  doctrine  which  is  according  to  godliness ;  he  is 
proud,  knowing  nothing' — from  such  withdraw  thyself."  In  these  pre- 
cepts no  right  is  given  to  the  masters  to  buy  and  sell,  to  traffic  in  slaves ; 
no  right  to  enslave  the  children,  and  the  children's  children  of  his  serv- 
ants ;  no  right  to  hold  them  in  a  relentless  bondage  which  knows  no 
limit  but  the  grave,  and  in  which  the  heritage  transmitted  by  the  slave 
to  his  children,  is  a  heritage  of  bondage  to  all  generations. 

On  the  26th  of  August,  1858,  the  same  season  that 
the  foregoing  correspondence  took  place,  Bro.  Butler 
wrote  to  the  editor  of  the  Christian  Luminary  the  fol- 
lowing letter,  which  is  given  entire,  as  showing  the 
exact  position  which  he  occupied  ministerially  at  that 
time: 

OCENA,  ATCHISON  Co.,  KAN.,  Aug.  26,  1858. 

DEAR  SIR  : — Three  churches — one  meeting  at  Leavenworth  City, 
another  at  Mount  Pleasant,  Atchison  county,  and  a  third  at  Pardee, 
same  county — have  formed  an  organization  for  the  purpose  of  propagat- 
ting  the  gospel  in  Kansas.  For  four  months  I  have  been  in  the  employ 
of  these  churches.  My  first  business  was  to  travel  over  the  Territory 
and  ascertain  where  we  have  brethren  in  sufficient  numbers  to  make  it 
expedient  to  organize  churches.  To  that  end  I  have  traveled  over  that 
portion  of  the  Territory  north  of  the  Kansas  River,  and  embraced  in 
the  counties  of  Leavenworth,  Atchison,  Doniphan,  Jefferson,  and  Cal- 
houn ;  also,  to  some  extent  south  of  the  Kansas  River. 

I  will  not  say  that  this  has  been  the  pleasantest  labor  of  my  life. 
A  long  and  wearisome  ride  across  wide  prairies,  under  a  burning  sun, 
has  often  been  followed  by  a  fruitless  effort  to  excite  interest  enough  to 
justify  established  preaching.  I  would  not  convey  the  idea  that  this 
region  is  not  full  of  promise  to  the  missionary,  notwithstanding  I  am  fully 
persuaded  that  we  are  not  to  expect  such  immediate  results  as  have  fol- 
lowed my  own  labors  elsewhere.  We  must  first  sow,  and  then,  in  due 
time,  we  shall  reap,  if  we  faint  not. 

The  M.  E.  Church  reports  120  preachers  in  Kansas  and  Nebraska; 
the  U.  B.  Church,  9,  sustained  in  part  by  contributions  from  abroad. 
The  Missionary  Baptists  make  good  their  right  to  the  name  they  have 
chosen,  by  sustaining  four  missionaries.  I  confess  it  is  a  matter  of  pro- 
found humiliation  to  me  that  the  demonstration  that  ours  is  primitive. 


PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS. 

apostolic  Christianity,  is  found  in  the  fact  that  we  can  afford  but  one 
missionary  in  Kansas,  and  that  to  his  support  not  one  dime  has  been 
contributed  from  abroad.  The  brethren  in  the  Territory,  under  an  un- 
exampled pecuniary  pressure,  and  out  of  their  deep  poverty,  have  done 
all  that  has  been  done.  Two  new  churches  have  been  organized  —  one 
at  Big  Springs,  Douglas  county,  numbering  twenty-eight  members  ;  the 
other  at  Cedar  Creek,  Jefferson  county,  of  eleven  members.  We  have 
also  the  nucleus  of  a  congregation  at  Atchison,  and  another  at  Elk  City, 
Calhoun  county.  Thus  we  have  in  this  part  of  Kansas  the  foundation 
laid  for  eight  churches,  all  of  which  are  steadily  increasing  in  numbers  ; 
and  the  brethren  composing  them,  in  all  the  elements  of  future  growth, 
and  in  moral  and  in  religious  excellence,  are  at  par  value  with  the 
brotherhood  in  any  of  our  States  or  Territories. 

If  the  older  churches,  blessed  with  such  abundant  means,  would  aid 
us  in  this  hour  of  our  need,  it  is  my  opinion  they  would  be  no  poorer  on 
earth  and  much  richer  in  heaven.  But  whether  they  aid  us  or  not,  I 
trust  we  shall  hold  our  own,  and  ultimately  prove  that  the  weapons  of  our 
warfare  are  not  carnal,  but  mighty  through  God  to  the  pulling  down  of 
strongholds,  casting  down  imaginations  and  every  high  thing  that  exalts 
itself  against  the  knowledge  of  God.  We  have  a  number  of  young 
preachers,  who  are  giving  promise  of  future  usefulness. 
Very  truly,  your  brother, 

PARDEE  BUTLER. 

P.  S.  —  Five  persons  in  this  congregation,  and  one  at  Big  Springs 
have  been  recently  added  by  baptism;  also  two  from  other  denomina- 
tions. 


On  the  ist  day  of  July,  1859,  Bro.  Butler  made  a 
very  interesting  report  of  his  labors,  and  especially  of 
his  tour  in  several  of  the  free  States  —  mostly  where  he 
had  labored  in  the  gospel  before  his  removal  to  Kansas. 
As  the  document  is  too  long  for  publication  entire  in 
this  volume,  only  the  more  important  extracts  can  be 
given.  The  first  two  paragraphs  being  only  a  fuller 
statement  of  what  is  already  written,  the  first  extract 
will  show  the  voluntary  indorsement  of  Bro.  Butler  by 
the  churches  for  which  he  had  been  laboring,  as  fol- 
lows : 


326  PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS. 

WHEREAS,  Bro.  Butler  has  faithfully  and  diligently  performed  the 
labor  assigned  him  as  our  evangelist ;  therefore, 

Resolved,  I.  That  we  do  most  heartily  approve  of  his  labors  and 
general  course  of  conduct  during  his  term  of  service.  2.  That  the 
officers  of  this  Board  be  directed  to  procure  the  services  of  Bro.  Butler, 
or  some  other  suitable  person,  to  solicit  aid  in  the  States  for  this 
society. 

Bro.  Humber,  as  president  of  the  Board,  did  not  call  it  together  to 
complete  the  arrangement  contemplated.  On  my  own  part,  I  felt  un- 
willing to  importune  him.  I  went  on  my  tour,  therefore,  simply  under 
the  indorsement  and  approval  of  my  own  congregation.  I  left  home 
December  16,  1858,  and  returned  May  12,  1859.  I  visited  the  Military 
Tract  of  Illinois,  Northeast  Iowa,  Southwest  Michigan,  Central  and  East- 
ern Indiana,  and  Northern  Ohio.  The  amount  of  money  realized  was 
$365;  expenses,  $110,  leaving  a  balance  on  hand  of  $255,  as  the  first 
installment  of  the  fund  of  our  begun  mission. 

Of  all  the  churches  in  which  I  sought  a  hearing  only  one,  the 
church  at  Bedford,  Ohio,  gave  me  the  cold  shoulder.  In  response  to 
my  request  for  the  privilege  of  delivering  a  lecture  before  them,  in  de- 
velopment of  our  wants  and  condition  in  Kansas,  they  responded  that  they 
considered  it  "  political,"  and  they  had  resolved  that  their  house  should 
not  be  used  for  political  lectures !  .  .  .  .  In  all  the  localities 
visited  by  me,  I  found  the  masses  of  the  people  with  such  convictions 
as  will  constrain  them  to  treat  slavery  in  the  United  States  as  a  moral 
evil,  and  to  pationize  only  such  societies  as  assume  toward  it  a  similiar 
position.  It  is  asked  :  What  have  we  to  do  with  slavery  ?  I  reply :  We, 
as  Christians,  should  have  nothing  to  do  with  it.  But  we  in  Kansas 
are  placed  under  compulsion  to  have  something  to  do  with  it.  We 
have  slaveholders  in  our  churches ;  and  if  the  time  should  come  when 
(here  will  be  no  slaves  in  Kansas,  still  we  have  something  to  do  with  it, 
for  within  one  day's  ride  of  us  in  Platte  county,  Mo.,  is  the  largest  body 
of  slaveholders  in  that  State,  Discipline  is  special  to  each  congregation, 
but  that  sense  of  justice  which  always  stands  as  the  basis  of  discipline, 
is  common  to  all  the  churches  of  one  communion.  This  public  opinion 
is  created  by  a  mutual  interchange  of  sentiment — the  books  we  read 
and  the  preachers  we  hear.  For  years  past  slaveholders  have  ceased  to 
hear  those  suspected  of  abolitionism  or  to  read  their  writings.  I  will 
bear  very  long  with  error  where  mutual  discussion  and  free  interchange 
of  sentiment  promise  ultimately  to  bring  all  to  be  of  the  same  mind. 
Am  I  told  that  the  safety  of  slave  property  requires  that  Abolitionists 
should  not  be  heard  in  the  slave  States?  I  reply  :  The  more  shame  to 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  327 

those  who  perpetuate  an  institution  that  demands  for  its  security  the 
tyranny  of  such  proscription ;  and  that  the  human  soul  of  the  black 
man  should  be  so  cruelly  dwarfed  and  robbed  of  his  manhood.  .  .  . 
.  .  .  .  Such  are  the  not  very  flattering  impressions  made  on  my 
mind  during  a  five  months'  tour  in  Northern  Ohio,  after  an  absence  of 
nine  years.  There  must  and  will  be  a  reform ;  it  has  become  a  public 
necessity.  Temporizers  are  proverbially  short-sighted.  God  gives  only 
to  the  pure-hearted  the  divine  privilege  of  foreseeing  the  coming  of  those 
beneficent  revolutions,  which  exalt  and  dignify  humanity.  Ambitious 
and  selfish  men  are  left  to  go  blindly  on  and  fall  into  their  own  pit.  At 
present  there  will  be  chaos !  The  people  will  not  follow  those  who  have 
been  accustomed  to  lead,  notwithstanding  those  leaders  will  have  power 
greatly  to  embarrass  the  action  of  those  who  do  not  follow  them.  We 
have  three  pressing  wants :  I.  A  sustained  paper  that  will  not  bow  the 
knee  to  the  image  of  this  modern  Baal.  Such  a  paper  we  have,  but  it 
should  not  be  concealed,  that  it  must  pass  through  a  fiery  ordeal,  and 
can  only  be  sustained  by  the  timely  efforts  of  its  friends.  2.  We  need  a 
convention  made  up  of  men  who  regard  slavery  as  a  moral  evil,  and 
are  disposed  to  make  their  own  consciences  the  rule  of  their  action.  3. 
We  need  a  missionary  fund,  which  shall  be  placed  in  such  hands  that  it 
shall  not  be  prostituted  to  the  vile  purpose  of  bribing  men  into  silence 
on  the  subject  of  slavery. 

I  am  not  commissioned  specially  to  speak  for  the  Luminary,  nor  to 
prophesy  concerning  any  convention  which  may  hereafter  assemble.  I 
only  speak  for  myself.  Let  it  then  be  candidly  admitted  that  the  fund 
which  I  have  been  able  to  collect  is  a  rather  unpromising  beginning,  and 
that  it  does  not  augur  that  this  mission  will  be  well  sustained.  I  remark, 
then,  I  never  was  adequately  sustained.  I  have  been  a  frontier  and  a 
pioneer  preacher,  and  have  shared  the  fortunes  of  such  men.  To  keep 
myself  in  the  field  I  have  labored  very  hard,  I  have  toiled  by  day,  and  have 
subjected  my  family  to  the  necessity  of  such  labor,  privation,  and  close 
economy  as,  perhaps,  calls  for  rebuke  instead  of  praise.  The  churches 
at  Davenport,  Long  Grove,  De  Witt,  Marion,  and  Highland  Grove,  in 
Iowa;  and  Camp  Point,  Mt.  Sterling,  and  Rushville,  in  Illinois,  can  be 
addressed  as  to  my  former  manner  of  life.  I  would  speak  modestly  of 
myself;  and  have  not  obtruded  these  matters  before  the  brethren  until 
rudely  assailed  as  though  I  never  made  any  sacrifices.  I  do  not  com- 
plain, and  what  I  have  said  is  offered  as  evidence,  in  some  sort,  that 
money  appropriated  to  this  mission  will  not  be  squandered- 


328  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

In  this  connection  it  is  thought  proper  to  insert  a 
single  quotation  from  a  letter  which  appeared  in  the 
Review,  a  paper  which  published  editorially,  the  most 
unscrupulous  slanders  in  reference  to  Bro.  Butler's 
work  in  Kansas,  which  letter  was  written  by  Bro.  S. 
A.  Marshall,  of  Leaven  worth — both  an  M.  D.  and  a 
preacher,  and  than  whom  no  more  honorable  gentle- 
man ever  lived  in  that  city.  His  testimony  is  inci- 
dental, and  therefore  so  much  the  stronger : 

The  brethren  of  the  four  churches  named  have  tried  to  co-operate 
together  to  sustain  Bro.  Pardee  Butler  as  home  missionary  for  a  little 
while.  He  is  an  able  evangelist  and  generally  beloved :  and  being  on 
the  ground  and  well  acquainted  with  the  country,  and  the  manners  and 
customs  of  the  people,  could  be  obtained  at  much  less  expense,  and  per- 
haps be  as  useful  and  acceptable  to  the  people  as  any  other  available 
evangelist. 

In  harmony  with  the  suggestion  made  by  Bro. 
Butler  in  his  report,  for  a  convention  of  our  brethren 
who  look  upon  slavery  as  a  moral  evil,  call  was  made 
for  such  a  meeting  to  convene  in  the  city  of  Indian- 
apolis on  the  ist  day  of  November,  1859.  About  six 
hundred  signatures  were  attached  to  the  call,  includ- 
ing many  of  the  most  intelligent  and  influential  mem- 
bers of  our  churches  in  the  North.  After  much  mis- 
representation and  denunciation,  the  convention  was 
held  in  the  Christian  chapel  in  Indianapolis ;  a  consti- 
tution for  a  missionary  society  adopted  and  the  neces- 
sary officers  appointed.  Many  of  the  churches  gave  it 
a  most  hearty  endorsement.  It  was  deemed  expedient 
that  Bro.  Butler,  before  returning  to  Kansas,  should 
visit  as  many  churches  as  practicable.  Accordingly,  he 
wrote  to  the  Luminary  under  date  of  December  26, 
1859,  from  Springville,  Ind.,  as  follows: 


PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS.  329 

I  have  thought  best,  before  returning  to  Kansas,  to  make  a  short 
visit  to  this  part  of  Indiana,  where,  according  to  report,  almost  all  the 
brethren  are  opposed  to  our  recent  missionary  movement.  In  twenty- 
three  days  I  have  preached  thirty-two  discourses.  For  the  mission  we 
.raised,  cash,  #55;  pledges,  #43.  Three  have  been  added  by  baptism, 
and  one  from  the  Presbyterians  who  had  formerly  been  immersed. 
Some  of  our  preaching  brethren  in  this  part  of  the  State  conclude  to 
take  the  advice  of  Gamaliel:  "And  now  I  say  unto  you,  refrain  from 
these  men,  and  let  them  alone ;  for  if  this  counsel  or  this  work  be  of 
men,  it  will  come  to  naught ;  but  if  it  be  of  God,  ye  can  not  overthrow 
it;  lest  happily  ye  be  found  even  to  fight  against  God."  In  the  cause 
of  a  common  piety  and  a  common  humanity. 

Bro.  Butler  returned  to  Kansas,  and  resumed  his 
labors  wherever  a  door  of  entrance  was  opened  to 
him.  Angry  clouds  thickened  across  the  political  and 
religious  horizon,  until,  shortly,  the  storm  broke  forth 
in  unwonted  fury,  and  swept  away  from  the  national 
statute  book  every  vestige  of  American  slavery.  For 
a  quarter  of  a  century  longer  he  continued  in  the  serv- 
ice of  the  Master,  laboring  successfully  in  every  de- 
partment of  the  ministerial  work — evangelical,  pastoral, 
and  in  the  advocacy  of  all  moral  reforms,  and  espe- 
cially as  a  leader  in  the  warfare  waged  against  the 
saloon  interest  in  Kansas.  He  lived  to  see  his  adopted 
State  take  an  advanced  position  in  the  legal  prohibition 
movement,  slavery  in  the  United  States  abolished, 
and  the  cause  of  Bible  Christianity  flourishing  as  it 
had  never  done  before.  He  commanded  the  re- 
spect of  all  who  knew  him,  and  was  regarded  as  one 
of  the  chief  founders  of  the  church.  His  presence  at 
all  the  Christian  conventions  in  and  out  of  the  State 
was  always  hailed  with  tokens  of  gladness.  Still  he 
was  aware  that  there  were  individual  members,  and 
even  some  churches  that  never  forgave  him  for  the  active 
part  he  took  against  the  extension  of  slavery,  and  his 


33O  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

indictments  against  it  as  a  moral  evil — a  sin  against 
God  and  man.  Fifty  years  of  his  eventful  life  were 
consecrated  to  the  service  of  the  Master  and  the  good 
of  humanity.  He  died  with  the  ministerial  harness 
on.  At  the  time  of  the  sad  casualty  which  proved  to 
be  fatal,  he  had  arrangements  for  continued  work  in 
the  churches,  both  at  home  and  abroad.  He  finished 
his  course  with  joy,  for  he  knew  there  was  laid  up  for 
him  in  heaven  a  crown  of  righteousness.  He  labored 
assiduously  in  life,  and  now  enjoys  the  sweet  rest 
which  remains  for  the  people  of  God. 


CHAPTERL  XLI. 

TEMPERANCE  AND  CHURCH  WORK. 

BY  ELD.  J.  B.  MCCLEERY. 
ANALYSIS    OF  CHARACTER. 

1.  An  indomitable  will. 

2.  A  sublime  courage. 

3.  A  never-satisfied  hungering  and  thirst  for  knowl- 
edge. 

4.  An  intense  love  for  truth,  and  hatred  of  shams. 

5.  A  tireless  worker. 

6.  An  advanced  thinker. 

In  presenting  this  analysis  it  is  by  no  means  thought 
to  be  complete.  There  are  many  phases  of  his  well- 
known  character  left  untouched,  because  this  chapter 
would  become  a  book,  if  all  were  presented  in  detail. 
We  touch  upon  these  more  salient  ones,  as  presenting 
the  well-known  outlines  of  his  later  life,  and  trust  the 
picture  will  find  faithful  recognition  among  his  host  of 
admirers. 

Those  who  have  known  him  ever  since  the  past 
Territorial  days  of  Kansas,  will  concede  that,  for  the 
accomplishment  of  a  purpose  unto  which  he  had  once 
deliberately  put  his  hand,  no  man  ever  breathed  the 
fresh  air  of  these  broad  prairies  who  followed  the  trail 

33' 


332  PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS. 

with  more  determination  and  keen,  intelligent  acquaint- 
ance with  all  bearings,  overcoming  difficulties,  meeting 
objections,  accepting  temporary  defeat  (pnilosophic- 
ally),  but  never  relinquishing  his  purpose  until  vic- 
tory crowned  his  effort,  or  failure  was  absolutely  inev- 
itable, than  he. 

Suited  to  this  was  a  courage  as  heroic  as  Leonidas' 
and  sublime  as  Paul's.  The  stormy  days  of  the  fifties 
and  sixties  gave  evidence  of  the  physical  side  of  this 
quality,  and  his  entire  life,  of  the  moral.  He  "feared 
no  foe  in  shining  armor,"  and  rather  courted  than 
avoided  a  passage  at  arms  dialectic.  Eminently  a  man 
of  peace,  and  loving  the  pursuits  that  make  for  it,  he 
would  see  no  principle  of  right  unjustly  assailed  with- 
out girding  himself  for  the  conflict,  and  standing  where 
the  blows  fell  thickest. 

Coming  to  this  unknown  country  at  an  age  when 
the  ordinary  mind  takes  firmest  grasp  of  all  intellectual 
things,  and  being  thus  deprived  of  that  mental  food 
necessary  to  satisfy  and  make  strong,  there  was  ever 
after  a  hungering  for  the  things  he  did  not  have,  that 
would  not  be  satisfied.  I  remember  talking  with  him 
once,  while  sitting  on  his  lumber  wagon,  resting  his 
team  in  the  cotton-wood  bottoms  east  of  Atchison, 
and  he  bewailed  as  much  as  a  man  of  his  fiber  could, 
the  fate  that  compelled  him  to  toil  day  and  night  while 
his  soul  was  starving  for  that  intellectual  food  which 
lay  all  around  him,  but  which  he  did  not  have  time  to 
gather  and  devour.  This,  however,  was  not  abnormal ; 
for,  even  to  the  day  of  his  death,  he  was  a  devoted  dis- 
ciple, sitting  at  the  feet  of  every  true  Gamaliel. 

An  intense  lover  of  truth,  and  a  like  hater  of  shams, 
he  analyzed  mercilessly  ;  not  for  the  sake  of  opposing, 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  333 

but  in  search  of  kernels  and  the  source  of  things.  If 
he  found  the  tree  was  bearing,  or  destined  to  bear 
evil  fruit,  he  would  do  his  utmost  that  there  should  be 
left  of  it  neither  root  nor  branch.  Accepting  good  in 
every  presented  form,  if  he  suspected  evil  in  the  garb 
of  good,  there  was  no  waiting  for  a  more  opportune 
time  than  the  then  present,  for  such  stripping  and  ex- 
posure as  his  vigorous  logic,  sarcasm,  wit,  pathos,  and 
personal  presence  could  produce.  Humble,  and  ex- 
ceedingly retiring  in  ordinary,  when  the  truth  was  as- 
sailed, or  wolves  in  sheeps'  clothing  appeared,  he  be- 
came a  lion,  fierce  and  towering ;  and  woe  betake  the 
man  or  system  that  then  became  the  object  of  his 
righteous  wrath.  Such  torrents  of  invective  as  fell 
from  his  tongue ;  such  flashes  as  gleamed  from  his  gray 
eagle-eyes ;  such  scorn  as  glowed  in  his  thin,  pallid 
lips,  made  every  one  tremble — an  avalanche  that  swept 
all  before  it. 

To  toil,  of  some  character  or  other,  he  seemed  to 
be  destined.  For  no  sooner  did  he  find  a  little  rest 
from  the  field  or  herd,  than  all  his  Hurculean  energy 
was  thrown  into  some  cherished  and  waiting  mental 
project.  His  life  is  an  example  of  the  statement  that 
"  genius  is  the  result  of  labor. "  Neither  did  he  travel 
in  thought  alone  upon  the  surface  of  things.  There 
were  subjects,  the  philosophy  of  which  no  contempor- 
ary understood  better ;  and  upon  the  social  and 
organic  relations  of  the  religious  reformation  with 
which  he  always  stood  identified,  he  was  twenty  years 
ahead  of  his  confreres.  He  was  a  veritable  Elijah  in 
many  things,  but  he  was  never  known  to  flee  from  the 
face  of  his  enemies. 


334  PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS. 

His  was  a  mighty  nature  ;  the  soul  of  honor  and 
the  embodiment  of  truth. 

There  are  two  features  of  his  Kansas  life,  which 
marked  the  man,  that  I  wish  to  portray,  viz:  His 
temperance  work,  and  his  religious  work.  These  were 
not  in  any  sense  divorced,  as  though  they  were  not  al- 
ways righteously  allied  ;  but,  as  all  know,  the  prohibi- 
tion question  holds  a  prominent  place  in  the  history  ot 
this  proud  young  queen,  with  her  "  ad  astraperaspera" 
and  from  the  time  she  was  admitted  to  a  place  among 
the  sisterhood  of  States,  up  to  the  date  that  the  com- 
paratively little  majority  of  8,000  votes  placed  her 
squarely  in  opposition  to  the  saloon,  with  all  its  inter- 
ests and  iniquities,  he  labored,  watched,  and  prayed, 
for  such  a  consummation.  In  this,  as  in  his  religious 
conceptions,  he  was  always  in  the  advance,  running  new 
lines  and  opening  broad  highways,  and  inviting  fields  for 
the  less  sturdy  but  oncoming  multitude.  As  he  had  bat- 
tled to  prevent  this,  his  adopted  State,  from  being  des- 
secrated  by  the  blot  of  human  slavery,  so  now  he 
voted,  preached,  lectured,  wrote,  that  it  might  be  de- 
livered from  the  body  and  soul  destroying  curse  of  the 
rum  power. 

I  have  before  me  his  temperance  scrap-book,  begin- 
ning with  the  proposed  amendment  to  the  State  Con- 
stitution, March  8,  1879,  anc^  coming  up  to  the  time  of 
his  death,  in  which  I  find  fifty-five  newspaper  articles 
written  by  him,  of  from  one  to  three  columns  in 
length,  presenting,  in  his  own  terse,  humorous,  glow- 
ing* vigorous,  convincing  way,  all  sides  of  this  chamel- 
eon-hued  question ;  now  analyzing  the  amendment 
and  the  laws  to  enforce  it,  turning  aside  here  to  answer 
the  cavil  of  some  carping  critic,  then  to  demolish  and 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  335 

bury  some  blatant  political  defender  of  the  whisky  ele- 
ment; arraigning  the  Governor,  Senate  and  House  of 
Representatives  for  their  gingerly  treatment  of  the 
great  question,  and  sending  a  trumpet-call  to  the  hon- 
est, brave,  and  sincere  temperance  workers,  both  men 
and  women,  urging  them  to  greater  vigilance  and 
closer  compact.  These,  with  numerous  short  and 
pithy  articles,  added  to  all  his  sermons  and  lectures  on 
the  subject,  occupying  a  much  larger  space  and  far 
more  time,  will  give  an  idea  of  the  labor  of  heart  and 
brain  bestowed  upon  this  one  question,  during  this  one 
decade.  We  have  room  in  this  chapter  for  only  one 
short  article  from  his  pen,  as  an  example  of  the  many, 
indicating  how  he  felt,  thought,  and  wrote  during  those 
stirring  years.  The  title  of  the  article  is,  '  •  The  Prohi- 
bition of  the  Liquor  Traffic.  The  Constitutional 
Amendment  in  Kansas."  He  says: 

This  is,  perhaps,  the  first  case  in  which  any  government  in  the 
world  has  incorporated  into  its  constitution  a  clause  prohibiting  forever 
the  sale  of  intoxicating  drinks  as  a  beverage.  This  is  a  struggle  in  which 
the  churches,  the  preachers,  and  the  Sunday-schools  are  arrayed  in  mor- 
tal antagonism  to  the  saloons  and  saloon-keepers.  Both  parties  are  in- 
stinctively conscious  that  this  is  a  contest  in  which  the  issue  is  to  kill  or 
be  killed.  No  truce  or  peace  is  possible.  '  I  will  put  enmity  between 
thy  seed  and  her  seed.'  The  people  are  drawn  into  one  or  the  other  of 
these  parties  by  a  sort  of  elective  affinity.  One  class  goes  with  the 
churches  and  the  Sunday-schools  ;  another  gravitates  to  the  drink  ing- 
house.  The  one  class  are  swayed  and  controlled  by  the  law  of  love — 
"Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself;"  the  other  by  the  principle 
that  governed  Cain — "  Am  I  my  brother's  keeper  ?  "  "  Who  cares  ?  "  '•  Let 
every  man  look  out  for  himself?  "  "  If  a  man  chooses  to  make  a  beast  of 
himself,  it  is  none  of  my  business." 

One  of  the  peculiar  things  coaaected  with  this  movement  is  the 
fact  that  by  far  the  most  determined  and  effective  opposition  to  this  law 
comes  from  foreign -born  and  naturalized  citizens.  They  have,  so  to 
speak,  monopolized  the  liquor  traffic  ;  they  are  bound  together  by  a  kind 


336  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

of  free  masonry,  and  with  small  regard  to  whom  they  vote  with,  Demo- 
crats or  Republicans,  they  give  the  whole  weight  of  their  political  influ 
ence  in  favor  of  free  liquor. 

With  here  and  there  a  notable  exception,  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  throws  its  influence  on  the  same  side  ;  hence  its  church  fairs  are 
carnivals  of  drunkenness. 

The  two  extremes  of  our  American  society  do  also  largely  join  in  this 
clamor  for  free  liquor.  "The  upper  ten  thousand," those  that  arrogate  to 
themselves  that  they  are  par  excellence,  the  elite  of  the  nation — albeit  that 
their  assumed  gentility  is  sometimes  but  a  shoddy  or  shabby  gentility — 
make  the  road  from  the  top  of  society  to  the  bottom,  and  from  thence  to 
hell,  as  short  as  possible,  by  assuming  that  it  is  aristocratic  to  tipple. 

When  from  these  so-called  upper  circles,  we  go  down  to  the  bot- 
tom of  society,  what  shall  we  say  of  that  great  multitude  of  men  and 
women,  crushed  into  poverty,  helplessness  and  ignorance,  groping  as  the 
blind  grope  in  darkness  ;  and  who  find  in  the  dram-shop  a  momentary 
oblivion  to  their  miseries  ? 

To  these  elements  of  opposition  to  prohibition  we  must  add  another 
class  of  men — the  professional  politicians.  These,  like  the  chameleon, 
take  the  color  of  every  object  they  light  on.  To  them  the  good  Lord 
and  the  good  devil  are  equally  objects  of  respect,  and  possible  worship  ; 
and,  having  all  mental  endowments  accurately  developed,  except  the  en- 
dowment of  conscience,  they  hold  that  all  things  are  legitimate  that  bring 
grist  to  their  mill.  These  will  be  good  prohibitionists  when  prohibition 
dances  in  silver  slippers ;  but  now  they  do  duty  on  the  other  side. 

The  above  picture  contains  a  very  fair  analysis  of  the  elements  of 
the  vote  in  opposition  to  the  prohibitory  amendment,  except  that,  per- 
haps, we  ought  to  add  the  vote  in  opposition  to  a  well-intended  class  of 
men  who  have  no  proclivity  for  liquor,  and  who,  perhaps,  could  give  no 
better  reason  for  their  vote  but  that  they  abhor  innovations,  and  are  con- 
tent to  do  as  their  fathers  and  grandfathers  did  before  them. 

Notwithstanding,  prohibition  carried  in  the  State  by  eight  thou- 
sand majority.  It  is  noteworthy  that  six  counties,  lying  along  the  Mis- 
souri River,  and  having  in  or  near  them  the  cities  of  Atchison,  Leaven- 
worth,  Wyandotte,  White  Cloud  and  Kansas  City,  and  which  also  contain 
the  largest  foreign-born  population  in  the  State,  gave  heavy  majorities 
against  the  amendment. 

It  is  self-evident  that  if  the  execution  of  this  law  is  left  to 
the  municipal  authorities  of  the  above-named  cities,  or  to  the  officers 
elected  in  the  above-named  counties,  then  the  saloon  keepers  and 
liquor  dealers  will,  without  let  or  hindrance,  trample  under  foot  both  the 


PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS.  337 

constitution  and  laws.  The  proof  of  this  lies  in  the  fact  that,  in  time  past, 
the  liquor  dealers  have  ridden  rough-shod  over  all  laws  enacted  in  the  in- 
terest of  temperance.  For  example,  the  law  provided  that  they  should 
not  sell  to  boys  under  age ;  the  law  provided  that  they  should  not  sell 
on  the  Lord's  day.  The  law  forbids  bribing  at  elections ;  but  the  bribery 
of  strong  drink  at  elections,  in  the  cities,  has  been  just  as  common  as  the 
elections ;  and  church  members,  and  even  preachers,  who  were  candi- 
dates for  office,  have  been  blackmailed  to  get  the  money  to  buy  the  liquor. 
It  will  be  asked,  What,  then,  do  we  gain  who  live  in  these  river' 
counties,  and  in  these  cities,  by  the  passage  of  this  prohibitory  law  ? 
We  gain  much. 

1.  Thus  far  these  law-breaking  liquor  dealers  have  acted,  in  carry- 
ing on  their  business,  under  the  shadow  and  protection  of  law.     This 
protection  is  now  withdrawn. 

2.  The  government  has  hitherto  been  in  partnership  with  liquor 
dealers  in  the  infamous  business  of  making  drunkards.     This  partnership 
is  now  dissolved. 

3.  The  appetite  for  strong  drink  is  not  a  natural  appetite.     It  is  an 
appetite  artificially  created  in  children,  boys  and  young  men.     It  is  not 
for  the  public  welfare  that  it  should  be  created  at  all.     The  scheme  and 
plan  of  the  popular  saloon  is   to  create  this  appetite,  and  to  strengthen 
and  foster  it  after  it  is  created. 

The  whole  business  of  the  saloon  looks  in  this  direction.  To  this 
end  are  its  flashing  lights,  its  glittering  decanters,  its  rainbow  tints,  its 
jolly  good  fellowship  and  boon  companionship,  and  the  bonhomie  of  the 
portly  saloonkeeper.  All  these,  in  the  purpose  and  intent  for  which 
they  exist,  mean  the  death  of  the  body  and  the  soul  of  the  man  that 
enters  these  gates  that  lead  down  to  hell.  The  saloon  is  a  serpent, 
with  the  serpent's  fascinating  beauty  and  power  to  charm,  but  with  the 
serpent's  deadly  bite.  "At  the  last  it  biteth  like  a  serpent  and  stingeth 
like  an  a  ider."  Kansas  has  wisely  ordained  that  it  will  not  maintain 
by  the  public  authority  and  at  the  public  expense  poisonous  serpents  to 
sting  the  people  to  death. 

4.  Men  object:  "The  selling  of  liquor  will   go  on,  but  you  will 
drive  the  business  into  dark  places  and  into  the  hands  of  disreputable 
men."     To  this  temperance  men  reply:   "That  is  just  what  we  want. 
We  wish  to  take  away  every  vestige  of  respectability  from  the  man  that 
sells  liquor.     We   intend  that  it  shall  be  sold— if  it  must  be  sold  at 
all — in   dark   cellars  and  in  back  alleys,  and  that  the  men  that  sell 
liquor  shall  take  rank  among  the  law-breaking  and  dangerous  classes  of 
society." 


338  PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS. 

5.  The  one  potent  charm  and  omnipotent  argument  that  has  served 
as  a  gift  to  blind  the  eyes  and  an  opiate  to  lull  to  sleep  the  consciences 
of  the  municipal  authorities  of  our  cities  has  been  the  revenue  they  have 
derived  from  liquor  license  laws.  For  example,  the  city  of  Atchison  has 
derived  from  this  source  a  revenue  of  $10,000.  This  revenue  was  paid 
not  alone  by  her  own  citizens,  but  by  all  men  who  were  drawn  to  the 
city  for  purposes  of  business  or  pleasure  and  who  could  be  induced  to 
patronize  the  saloons.  And  this  has  been  a  perpetual  menace  to  the 
safety  of  families  living  in  the  country  who  did  business  in  the  city. 
This  revenue  is  gone.  It  is  hopelessly  and  irrecoverably  dried  up.  The 
Missouri  river  will  turn  and  flow  backward  towards  its  source  before 
this  revenue,  which  is  the  price  of  blood,  like  the  thirty  pieces  of  silver 
for  which  Judas  sold  his  Master,  will  ever  come  back  again.  After 
Jesus  had  cast  a  legion  of  demons  out  of  the  demoniac  that  dwelt  among 
the  tombs,  this  man  was  far  more  impressible  with  regard  to  motives  ad- 
dressed to  his  better  nature  than  while  he  was  possessed  by  these  de- 
mons ;  so  we  may  charitably  hope  that  now,  after  ten  thousand  evil 
demons  have  been  cast  out  of  the  hearts  of  the  mayor  and  common 
council  of  the  city  of  Atchison,  these  dignitaries  will  be  more  impress- 
ible with  regard  to  motives  of  morality,  humanity,  and  of  the  public 
welfare. 

Meantime,  temperance  men  look  on  the  whole  business  of  liquor 
license  as  an  unspeakable  madness.  Regarded  simply  as  a  question  of 
dollars  and  cents,  they  look  on  it  as  a  horrible  nightmare — a  hallucina- 
tion fallen  on  men  nearly  allied  to  that  form  of  mental  abberration  which 
carries  men  to  mad-houses  and  insane  asylums,  a  strange  and  mysterious 
perversion  of  the  human  faculties.  Regarded  in  its  economical  aspects, 
they  hold  that  it  would  be  just  as  good  economy  and  as  much  the  dictate 
of  common  sense,  to  obtain  a  revenue  by  licensing  murder,  theft,  burg- 
lary, robbery;  and  harlotry,  as  it  is  to  license  the  sale  of  intoxicating 
drinks  as  a  beverage. 

It  will  be  seen,  then,  that  prohibition  incorporated  into  the  consti- 
tution of  Kansas,  does  not,  by  any  means,  give  us  the  victory;  it  only 
places  us  in  a  position  to  fight  a  fair  and  equal  battle  hereafter.  We 
are,  like  Israel,  shouting  triumphantly,  "I  will  sing  unto  the  Lord,  for 
he  hath  triumphed  gloriously ;  the  horr.e  and  his  rider  hath  he  drowned 
in  the  Red  Sea." 

But  beyond  us  are  parched  and  desert  sands,  poisonous  serpents, 
savage  wild  beasts  and  mortal  enemies.  All  these  must  be  conquered 
before  we  finally  rest  in  the  happy  Canaan. 


PERSONAL     RECOLLECTIONS.  339 

It  is  now  conceded  by  the  best  informed  actors  in 
this  great  drama  or  tragedy,  that  Pardee  Butler,  as 
much  or  more  than  any  one  man,  made  the  prohibition 
movement  in  Kansas  the  marvelous  success  it  is.  The 
generation  is  yet  to  come  that  will  rise  up  to  do  him 
rightful  honor. 

From  '54  to  '60  Pardee  Butler  was  the  Moses 
to  the  church  in  this  wilderness,  and  for  years  fol- 
lowing he  was  in  some  sense  like  Paul,  ' '  having  the 
care  of  all  the  churches."  But  from  the  beginning  he 
was  the  foremost  man  by  virtue  of  natural  and  acquired 
ability,  although  a  reluctant  following  was  often  given 
because  of  former  habitudes  and  shibboleths,  socially. 
There  were  other  men  in  different  localities  who  bat- 
tled grandly  for  the  truth  and  sowed  the  seed  of  the 
kingdom  with  firm  and  loyal  hand :  Brethren  Yohe 
and  Jackson,  of  Leavenworth,  followed  by  the  Bauser- 
mans,  Joseph  and  Henry,  Gans  of  Olathe,  Brown  of 
Emporia,  White  of  Manhattan,  and  others  equally 
worthy, — all  pioneers  in  every  good  sense,  and  now  all 
gone  to  their  reward,  with  the  exceptions  of  Brethren 
Yohe  and  the  Bausermans.  Without  being  formally 
chosen  Pardee  Butler  was  the  recognized  leader  of  these 
sanctified  few,  and  no  home  where  they  entered  was  too 
humble,  or  field  where  they  toiled  too  barren,  for  the 
light  of  his  countenance  to  cheer,  or  the  strength  of 
his  arm  to  be  felt.  In  the  polity  and  development  of 
the  church,  as  in  other  fields  of  moral  and  social  strug- 
gle, he  was  far  in  advance  of  the  time  ;  and  up  to  the 
day  of  his  death,  this  was  one  of  the  great  burdens  that 
rested  upon  his  heart. 

The  membership  corning  to  the  Territory,  and 
which,  of  course,  formed  the  nuclei  of  churches,  was 


34O  PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS. 

a  heterogenous  compound.  In  many  respects  there 
was  no  possible  assimilation  ;  but  so  far  as  the  simple 
tenets  of  the  primitive  faith  were  concerned,  there  was 
little  or  no  difference.  But  as  to  plurality  of  bishops  in 
the  congregation,  their  tenure  and  jurisdiction  of  office, 
the  relations  of  comity  between  sister  churches,  the 
duties  and  powers  of  an  evangelist,  the  laying  on  of 
hands  in  induction  into  authority,  instrumental  music  in 
the  congregation,  the  Sunday-school  and  its  organiza- 
tion, the  order  of  social  worship,  the  mid-week  meet- 
ing for  prayer,  and  numerous  other  matters  of  scriptural 
life,  there  were  as  many  shades  of  opinion  as  there 
were  of  dialects  ;  and  the  tenacity  with  which  they 
were  maintained,  those  not  familiar  with  the  time  and 
its  environments  can  hardly  hope  to  know.  Yet  upon 
all  these  and  kindred  questions,  Bro.  Butler  had  singu- 
larly clear-cut  and  advanced  opinions.  He  has  often 
said  to  me,  "  How  very  obtuse  the  churches  seem  to 
be  on  the  plain  teaching  of  Scripture.  And  the 
preachers  are  equally  ignorant,  or  else  they  are  willing 
to  go  limping  and  halting,  when  they  could  as  well  and 
better  be  easily  marching  and  leading  their  sanctified 
hosts  to  marvelous  victory." 

He  did  not  feel,  or  even  make  manifest,  that  he 
recognized  his  greatness  in  these  directions  only  as  he 
labored  to  bring  the  congregations  and  their  officers 
up  to  his  ideals. 

In  the  first  struggles  to  bring  the  scattered  congre- 
gations into  co-operative  unity,  he  was  the  head  and 
heart  of  the  movement ;  and  through  all  the  varied 
successes  and  failures  of  those  non-cohesive  times  and 
men,  he  never  lost  courage  or  intimated  aught  else 
than  the  success  which  now  crowns  the  work. 


PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS.  34! 

I  regarded  him  as  the  finest  ecclesiastical  historian 
among  us,  and  because  of  his  knowledge  here,  coupled 
with  the  philosophy  that  grew  out  of  it,  linked  to  the 
genius  of  Christianity  itself,  he  was,  by  educational 
intuition,  a  missionary  zealot. 

Carey  and  the  Judsons,  and  Barclay  and  Living- 
stone, with  all  others  of  like  character,  were  what  he 
termed  "  ripe  fruit "  from  the  Good  Tree.  He  was  to 
the  churches  in  Kansas  what  these  men  and  women 
were  to  the  people  among  whom  they  labored.  Visit- 
ing every  outpost,  gathering  the  straggling  sheep  into 
folds  and  striving  to  secure  shepherds  for  them,  strip- 
ping the  fleecy  garments  from  the  wolves,  uncovering 
the  sophistries  of  the  various  polytheisms,  immersing 
the  converts  and  exhorting  the  saints,  the  thirty-five 
years  he  spent  in  Kansas  were  years  of  severest  mental, 
moral  and  physical  labor ;  and  from  which  he  asked  no 
respite  until  God  called  him. 

Truthfully  this  Scripture  may  be  written  as  his  epi- 
taph :  ' '  Blessed  are  the  dead  who  die  in  the  Lord  from 
henceforth ;  Yea,  saith  the  Spirit,  for  they  rest  from 
their  labors  and  their  works  do  follow  them." 


„      Mr. 
J 

C 


/ .  i 


CHAPTER  XLII. 

The  following  tributes  of  friendship  were  published 
in  the  Atchison  Champion,  after  father's  death  : 

TWO  KANSAS  PIONEERS. 
BY  JOHN   A.  MARTIN,  EX-GOVERNOR  OF  KANSAS. 

Rev.  Pardee  Butler,  who  died  at  his  old  home,  near  Farmington,  on 
Saturday  last,  was,  for  a  full  generation  past,  one  of  the  most  prominent 
figures  in  Kansas  history.  He  was  a  minister  of  the  Christian  Church,  and 
located  in  this  county  early  in  1855.  He  came  to  Kansas  to  fight  slavery. 
He  was  a  sincere  man.  He  was  a  brave  man.  He  had  in  him  the  stuff  of 
which  martyrs  are  made.  He  deliberately  chose,  on  coming  to  the  young 
Territory,  the  county  in  which  the  advocates  of  slavery  seemed  to  be 
strongest  and  most  violent.  He  made  no  secret  of  his  opinions  on  the 
question  of  slavery,  nor  of  his  purpose  to  oppose  the  attempt  to  make 
Kansas,a  slave  State.  He  was  not  a  fighting  man,  in  the  worldly  sense  of 
that  word ;  but  in  its  broader  and  higher  significance,  he  was  an  aggres- 
sive, fearless,  tireless  fighter.  He  would  not  kill,  but  he  did  not  hesitate 
to  brave  death.  He  would  not  shoot,  but  he  did  not  quail  or  cower  be- 
fore guns,  or  knives,  or  ropes. 

The  Champion  publishes,  this  morning,  some  extracts  from  its  own 
columns,  when  it  was  a  newspaper  with  another  name  and  other  princi- 
ples, narrating  some  of  the  incidents  of  his  early  life  in  Kansas.  They 
are  historic.  During  a  marvelous  era  they  stirred  the  heart  and  aroused 
the  conscience  of  the  Nation.  This  humble  preacher,  coming  to  the 
Territory  for  a  cause,  and  bravely  enduring  the  pangs  of  martyrdom  for 
his  opinions,  became,  at  once,  the  representative  of  millions  of  men.  The 
story  of  his  wrongs  was  told  in  every  newspaper  of  the  land,  and  was 
discussed  around  the  firesides  of  a  million  homes.  The  brutal  pro- 
slavery  mob  of  Atchison  saw  in  him  only  an  impudent  and  absurd  oppo- 

342 


PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS.  343 

nent  of  an  institution  that  controlled  courts,  legislatures  and  congress ;  the 
awakening  Nation  saw  that  he  stood  for  Free  Speech,  for  Liberty,  for 
Law,  and  for  Humanity ;  and  the  indignities  heaped  upon  him  touched  and 
stirred  the  heart  of  the  North  in  its  profoundest  depths.  Pardee  Butler,  fac- 
ing the  drunken,  ignorant,  howling,  brutal  pro-slavery  mobs  of  Atchison, 
must  have  been,  to  them,  a  unique  figure.  They  could  not  understand 
him.  The  writer  has  heard  men  who  were  present,  but  not  participants, 
when  the  mob  had  him  in  charge,  say  that  the  mingled  hatred  and  re- 
spect with  which  the  ruffians  regarded  him,  was  singularly  manifest.  He 
bore  himself  with  quiet  dignity  and  composure.  He  did  not  attempt  to 
resist,  nor,  on  the  other  hand,  did  he  manifest  the  slightest  evidence  of 
fear.  To  their  loud  and  violent  threatenings,  he  made  answer  with 
quiet,  manly  dignity.  It  would  have  gratified  the  ruffians  beyond  meas- 
ure if  they  could  have  induced  him  to  recant,  or  to  make  some  pledge 
that  would  compromise  his  frankly  expressed  opinions — some  promise  of 
silence  concerning  or  acquiescence  in,  or  non-interference  with,  their 
cherished  purpose  to  establish  slavery  in  Kansas.  If  he  had  yielded 
even  so  much  as  this,  they  would  gladly  have  let  him  go.  But  never  for 
a  moment  did  he  falter,  or  waver,  or  equivocate.  He  refused  to  make 
any  promise.  He  stood  upon  his  rights  as  an  American  citizen.  He  was 
opposed  to  slavery  in  Kansas,  and  intended  to  oppose  it  as  long  as  he 
lived.  He  came  to  Kansas  to  aid  in  making  it  a  free  State,  and  no  fear 
of  personal  injury  would  change  his  purpose,  He  was  one  man  among 
hundreds,  but  he  intended,  then  and  at  all  times,  in  Atchison  or  else- 
where, to  express  his  convictions,  and  with  voice  and  vote  maintain  his 
opinions.  All  this  he  said,  quietly  and  without  a  trace  of  boasting,  but 
with  a  firmness  that  won  from  the  mob  a  most  unyielding  respect. 

And  this  saved  him  from  a  worse  fate.  If  he  had  quailed  or  equivo- 
cated, they  would  have  triumphed ;  if  he  had  boasted  or  threatened, 
they  would  have  hanged  him.  He  did  neither.  And  so  they  first  set 
him  adrift  on  a  raft,  and  again  tarred  and  feathered  him ;  and  on  both 
occasions  manly  courage  and  sincere  faith  were  victorious  over  brute 
force  and  mad  passion. 

Mr.  Butler  lived  his  life,  during  all  the  years  of  his  residence  in  this 
county,  illustrating  the  same  lofty  purposes  and  sincere  convictions.  He 
was  not  always  correct  in  his  judgments,  but  he  was  always  earnest.  He 
was  interested  in  every  good  cause.  During  his  whole  life  he  was  an  ardent 
temperance  man.  He  was  a  practical,  as  well  as  an  ardent,  advocate  of 
temperance,  and  the  organization  of  the  so-called  "  Third  party  "  prohi- 
bitionists, excited,  at  once,  his  indignation  and  contempt.  He  was  one 
of  the  first  prohibitionists  of  Kansas  to  distrust  St.  John,  and  to  denounce 


344  PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

him  as  a  self-seeking,  ambitious  demagogue.  He  had  no  use  for  any 
man  who  was  not  entirely  sincere,  or  who  was  not  willing  to  subordinate 
his  own  personal  interest  for  the  sake  of  principle. 

Among  the  free  State  pioneers,  of  Atchison  County,  Pardee  Butler 
and  Caleb  May  were  first  in  influence  and  usefulness.  The  latter  died 
only  a  few  weeks  ago,  in  Florida.  The  Champion  made  notice  of  his 
death  at  the  time.  The  two  men,  in  their  personal  characteristics,  had 
nothing  in  common.  Col.  May  was  a  man  of  very  limited  education  ; 
Mr.  Butler  was  schooled  in  books.  Col.  May  had  lived  all  his  life  on 
the  frontier;  Mr.  Butler  came  from  one  of  the  oldest  communities  in 
Ohio.  Col.  May  believed  in  the  weapons  of  carnal  warfare;  Mr.  Butler 
put  his  faith  in  the  power  of  reason.  Both  were  men  of  approved  and 
unquestionable  courage,  but  if  the  pro-slavery  mob  had  attempted  to 
capture  Col.  May,  a  revolver,  held  with  a  steady  hand,  would  have 
blazed  his  defiance;  Mr.  Butler  submitted,  without  resistance  to  the 
mob's  will.  The  ruffians  did  not  understand  this  peaceful  but  resolute 
antagonist,  but  they  were  compelled  to  respect  his  determined  purpose. 
When  Col.  May  wrote  to  their  leader  a  letter  telling  the  pro-slavery 
rulers  of  Atchison  that  his  home  was  his  castle,  and  if  any  man  attacked 
it,  he  would  meet  with  a  bloody  reception,  and  that  he  (May)  intended 
to  come  to  Atchison  whenever  he  pleased,  and  meant  to  come  armed, 
they  laughed  at  his  rude  chirography,  and  made  merry  over  his  '<  spelling 
by  ear,"  but  they  understood  his  meaning  perfectly,  and  knew,  also, 
that  he  would  do  exactly  what  he  said.  And  they  never  disturbed  him. 
In  his  personal  appearance  Col.  May  was  an  ideal  "  Leatherstockings." 
He  might  have  sat  for  a  portrait  of  Cooper's  famous  frontier  hero  and  In- 
dian trailer.  Over  six  feet  in  height,  angular,  muscular,  somewhat  awk- 
ward in  repose,  with  cool,  bright  gray  eyes,  deep  set  under  shaggy 
eyebrows,  and  having  immense  reach  of  arm — his  was  an  imposing  figure. 
Mr.  Butler  was  a  born  Puritan;  Col.  May  was  a  born  frontiersman.* 
Mr.  Butler  opposed  slavery  on  moral  grounds,  and  because  he  hated  in- 
justice or  wrong  in  any  form.  Col.  May  hated  slavery,  and  fought  it, 


*  Mr.  May  was  not  the  blustering  rough  that  many  people  suppose  a  fron- 
tiersman to  be.  He  was  a  quiet,  hard-working  farmer,  kind  and  neighborly,  but 
ready  to  defend  his  own  rights,  and  those  of  his  friends,  or  of  the  poor  and  down- 
trodden. His  proverbial  phrase  was,  "  Whatever  I  do,  I  want  to  do  it  so  well  that 
the  world  will  be  none  the  worse  for  my  having  lived  in  it."  His  son,  E.  E.  May, 
says  that  he  used  to  say  that  he  learned  from  his  Eible  to  hate  slavery.  He  could 
lead  a  prayer-meeting  as  easily  as  he  could  lead  a  regiment ,  and  he  could  defend  the 
Scriptures  as  readily  as  he  could  defend  his  home.  I  once  heard  him  say  that  he 
had  never  kept  a  hired  man  for  any  length  of  time,  but  that  he  succeeded  in  per- 
suading him  to  join  the  church  before  he  left  him.  MRS.  R.  B,  H. 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS.  345 

because  he  believed  the  institution  was  detrimental  to  his  own  race. 
Born  in  Kentucky  and  reared  in  Missouri,  he  had  seen  the  effects  of 
slavery  all  about  him,  harming  him  and  his,  and  so  he  hated  it. 

Kansas  owes  both  of  these  pioneers  a  debt  of  respect  and  gratitude. 
The  world  was  better  that  they  lived  in  it.  Freedom  found  in  them  de- 
voted loyalty  to  her  cause.  They  both  loved  Kansas,  and  their  lives 
were  inseparably  associated  with  the  stirring  events  of  the  most  momen- 
tous years  of  her  history.  They  served  her  well.  Brave  and  strong  and 
useful,  they  fought  a  good  fight  and  kept  the  faith.  Honor  to  their 
memory. 


A  WREATH  OF  TRIBUTE. 
BY  REV.  D.  C.  MILNER, 

Formerly  Pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  at  Atchison,  Kan. 

EDITOR  OF  THE  CHAMPION  : — Having  read,  with  much  interest, 
your  sketch  of  Pardee  Butler,  I  am  moved  to  lay  a  wreath  of  tribute  upon 
the  grave  of  the  old  hero.  He  was  a  man  of  most  invincible  courage. 
Earl  Morton,  by  the  open  grave  of  John  Knox,  said,  "  Here  lies  one  who 
never  feared  the  face  of  man."  Mr.  Butler  was  a  John  Knox  sort  of 
man.  Those  who  have  visited  him  at  his  home  of  late  years  will  remem- 
ber how  modestly,  yet  with  some  pride,  he  would  tell  the  story  of  that 
day  in  Atchison  when  the  mob  started  him  down  the  river  on  the  frail 
raft,  and  how  he  would  exhibit  the  banner  so  carefully  preserved.  It 
would  be  of  much  interest  if  we  could  have  the  full  story,  told  by  himself, 
of  the  raft  journey;  of  the  after  "tar  and  cotton"  affair;  and  also,  of 
the  night,  some  time  after  that,  when  some  of  the  very  men  who  helped 
to  mob  him,  assisted  him  across  the  river  with  his  loaded  team  when  he 
was  in  some  trouble. 

He  lived  to  see  the  overthrow  of  the  slave  power,  which  he  hated 
with  all  the  intensity  of  his  nature.  He  also  witnessed  the  revolution  in 
Kansas  as  to  the  liquor  power.  The  files  of  the  Champion,  for  the  spring 
of  1885,  have  an  account  of  a  notable  meeting  in  the  court-house  at 
Atchison  of  the  friends  of  law  and  order.  The  friends  of  the  saloon, 
for  nearly  five  years  after  prohibition  was  the  law  of  the  State,  had 
ignored  the  law,  and  challenged  its  enforcement.  This  convention  was 
the  first  general  gathering  of  the  citizens  of  Atchison  County  to  protest 


346  PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS. 

against  this  lawlessness,  and  demanded  that  the  officers  of  the  law  close 
the  saloons.  Pardee  Butler  was  one  of  the  leading  spirits  in  the  conven- 
tion. Many  will  recall  his  fiery  speech  of  that  day.  He  spoke  of  the 
thirty  years  of  his  life  in  Kansas,  and  of  the  great  events  that  had  hap- 
pened. He  then  denounced  the  actual  rebellion  then  in  existence,  and 
called  for  its  suppression.  That  convention  was  the  beginning  of  the 
end  of  the  downfall  of  the  organized  saloon  pewer  in  Atchison. 

Pardee  Butler  was  in  sympathy  with  good  men  in  every  good  cause. 
While  a  born  controversialist,  and  strong  in  his  convictions,  he  was 
glad  to  work  with  Christians  of  any  name  in  building  up  the  kingdom  of 
God  in  the  world.  He  identified  himself  heartily  with  the  Sunday- 
school  work,  and  was  anxious  that  everything  should  be  done  for  chil- 
dren and  youth,  not  only  to  make  them  believers,  but  good  men  and 
good  citizens.  I  agree  heartily  with  what  Noble  Prentis  has  recently 
said  of  him:  "We  knew  him  well  in  his  later  years;  a  brave  and  earn- 
est man  ;  full  of  ideas  for  making  this  world  better,  and  confident  that 
they  would  succeed.  He  has  gone  to  the  company  of  those  who,  on  every 
field  for  these  hundreds  of  years,  where  the  battle  for  the  sacred  rights  of 
man  was  to  be  fought  out,  have  cried,  <O  Lord,  make  bare  thine  arm! f 
and  have  bared  their  own." 

MANHATTAN,  KAN.,  October  26,  1888, 


/'/ 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBANA 

978.102B977B  C001 

PERSONAL  RECOLLECTIONS  OF  PARDEE  BUTLER 


30112025403509 


